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 Partridge Family - "I Think I Love You" (Billboard #1, entered 10/10/70; easy listening #8). Written by Tony Romeo. Produced by Wes Farrell. 45: "I Think I Love You"/"Somebody Wants to Love You" (Bell 1971). LP: The Partridge Family Album (Bell 1971).
"I Think I Love You" was the first of the Partridge Family's nine charting singles, and it laid out the formula for the group's adult-oriented sound. You read that right - in spite of their teen magazine appeal and kid-friendly TV show, the Partridge Family's music aimed squarely toward MOR formats. No other bubblegum group had such consistent success on the easy listening charts, and did you ever notice how, on the show, they usually did their lip-sync gigs for grown-ups in supper clubs?
A chart-topping hit, "I Think I Love You" was a schlager-esque number in the vein of Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days." Its composer, Tony Romeo, had also come up with "Indian Lake" (1968) for the Cowsills, the real-life family band that inspired The Partridge Family.
Radio man John Long, in his online memoirPuttin' on the Hits: A True Story About Top 40 Radio in 60's & 70's, reports having received a gold record from Bell for helping to "break" the record as a program director at KLWW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He'd apparently gotten it into heavy rotation before the Partridge Family TV show had even made its September 1970 debut.
The Assembled Multitude - "Woodstock" (Billboard #79, entered 10/3/70; easy listening #23). Written by Joni Mitchell. Produced by Bill Buster and Tom Sellers. 45: "Woodstock"/"Mr. Peppercorn" (Atlantic 1970). LP: The Assembled Multitude (Atlantic 1970).
The Assembled Multitude's #16 hit "Overture from Tommy (A Rock Opera)" provided a service in bringing the Who's album track to AM radio, but the studio instrumental ensemble's two follow-up singles, "Woodstock" and "Medley from 'Superstar' (A Rock Opera)," were less-memorable Muzak exercises. Even so, "Woodstock," employing the minor-key orchestral swathes we've learned to associate with the cinematic presence of Native Americans, could have perhaps worked as a Billy Jack-style action movie theme.
A Billboard ad from October 10, 1970, provides a visual image of the Assembled Multitude, giving names to faces. Nowhere to be seen is key contributor Tom Sellers, the arranger who'd also done work for Glen Campbell, the Hues Corporation, the Electric Indian, and Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.
Anthony Newley - "We Took Our Love Outside Today" (1971)
Written by Jennings Cobb (words) and Neely Plumb (music) * Produced and arranged by Neely Plumb * LP: For You * Label: Bell * Billboard charts: —
The spoken-word For You album is the British actor, singer, and songwriter Newley's only release on Bell, and it abides in a time bubble wherein albums like Rod McKuen's In Search of Eros enjoyed ongoing sales and the term "romance" demanded a certain sexual frankness. The words come from a 1965 book by Jennings Cobb with music by Neely Plumb, father of Eve (The Brady Bunch's Jan). At the time of this album, Newley had recently divorced from Joan Collins and received critical lashings for his X-rated film Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? His successful 1971 soundtrack for Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (co-written with Leslie Bricusse), though, would soon make Newley's world taste good again.
I'd be curious to hear how any of the tracks from For You aired on Los Angeles MOR station KMPC, who included it in a 1971 playlist. Present day listeners might hear this material as a possible template for Saturday Night Live's "hot tub lovers," in which Will Farrell and Rachel Dratch play two professors who over-articulate their one track minds.
Simon and Garfunkel - "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (Billboard #18, entered 9/12/70; easy listening #6). Arrangement and lyrics by Paul Simon. Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Roy Hallee. 45: "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)"/"Why Don't You Write" (Columbia (1970). LP: Bridge Over Troubled Water (Columbia 1970).
The fine print on the labels said "arrangement and original lyrics by Paul Simon," but "El Condor Pasa" actually had a more complicated authorship history, all of which, apparently, has been settled in court. Official songwriting credits now go to Daniel AlomÃa Robles for the music, Jorge Milchberg as co-arranger (he's a member of Los Incas, the Peruvian band featured on the recording), and Paul Simon for co-arrangement and English lyrics. Simon and Los Incas, whom he had learned it from, were both unaware of Robles's 1913 copyright. The song would be the third single from Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water LP, but it had already managed to get a cover version recorded by Perry Como on his It's Impossible album. Los Incas would return to the pop charts with Simon on his "Duncan," a 1972 song with no copyright hiccups.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears - "Lucretia McEvil" (Billboard #29, entered 10/3/70; easy listening #39). Written by David Clayton-Thomas. Produced by Bobby Colomby and Roy Halee. 45: "Lucretia McEvil"/"Lucretia's Reprise" (Columbia 1970). LP: Blood, Sweat and Tears 3 (Columbia (1970).
Although their chart success dwindled after 1969 (the big year that brought them three Top 5 hits), Blood, Sweat, and Tears managed to maintain a steady radio presence with new material until 1975. Written by the group's vocalist David Clayton-Thomas, "Lucretia MacEvil" had a jazz-rock-in-your-face quality that lacked the charm and wit of their previous hits, but enough MOR stations embraced it to appear on Billboard's easy listening chart. Perhaps MOR acceptance for the group got a boost after they sacrificed their underground rock mojo for a three night stand at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in December 1969 and for a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of Eastern Europe in mid-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.
