Throwback Tracks--May 5, 2016
Shaun Cordingley
Today I'm primarily taking you back to the rock of the middle of the 1970s.
Why?
Oh, reasons.
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
This is yet another one of those songs that I completely forget about, and then I hear it somewhere (in this case, it's a throw-away joke on a half-decent episode of The Simpsons in a love story...about...the Sex Pistols...*cough*). Edinburgh's Bay City Rollers had their first major world-wide hit in 'Saturday Night', which is somewhat ironic as it was one of the few songs that they had released that did not chart, at all, at home in the UK. They actually debuted the song -via satellite- in 1976 on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (not the show you're thinking of, it is a much stranger, short-lived variety show on ABC...that had Bill and Bryan Doyle Murray, and Christopher Guest on it....but I digress).
This is one of those odd...kind of disco/dance infused rock songs that appeared in the 1970s, but let's face it: the reason we all remember it (outside of So I Married an Axe Murderer) is the fact that everyone knows how to spell 'Saturday', but now you can do it to a simple beat!
If we're honest, we will sing along to it as well; I played this at a lot of Saturday night wedding receptions, and it always worked, so you can say you don't enjoy it all you want, I've seen it.
Slow Ride - Foghat
The lead single off of English rock band Foghat's fifth studio album Fool for the City (1975)...and there are literally five versions of the song, however I am going with the short version here with the fade out at the end because, like a mound of 70s rock, 'Slow Ride' tends to get a little self-indulgent around the 7 minute mark in the longer versions...
You know this song--in fact this is probably the first song you think of whenever someone mentions the band Foghat, despite the fact that aside from numerous line-up changes, and a brief hiatus, they have indeed been making music for 40 years. I think that's primarily because this song really features the excellent electric-slide guitar the band is known for, and because the song has featured in so many iconic things: Dazed and Confused, FM, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, Family Guy, Dexter, Guitar Hero...the list goes on.
That, and it's a pretty damn great zone out song (although you might want the 10 minute version for that...)
Golden Years - David Bowie
'Golden Years' is one of those David Bowie songs that gets overshadowed by a lot of his other work, as it appeared near the very end of his Young Americans funky-soulful period--which you can definitely hear the funk influence here--and ended up on the Station to Station album, home of the Thin White Duke, and the beginnings of his shift into the snyth/electronic period of his Berlin Trilogy.
This is a pretty damn great Bowie song however, even though he apparently did not remember much of it's production (this was when his cocaine addiction was at its' worst)...
There's not much else to say really, it's Bowie man...RIP.
The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy
Ireland's Thin Lizzy originally released "The Boys Back in Town" on their 1976 album Jailbreak (which was their sixth studio album) and it really became their biggest hit. I think the real thing that makes this rock song work as well as it does is the dual lead guitars--this song is all about the guitar work. I mean sure, the lyrics are...well they're 70s rock lyrics, feeling a lot like a lot of what is out there when it comes to rock music, but those two lead guitars? That's where this song really shines. Sure, I mean, who hasn't been drunk and jammed out to 'The boys are back in town' at some event, or pub, or at a National Irish Rugby match...
You're My Best Friend - Queen
Every week I fight with myself whether or not to start putting Queen songs on these lists...because at the end of the day, it would be very, very, very easy for me to put Queen all over these lists (and yes, there will probably be a Queen week...just so your forewarned), not just because they're one of the best bands of all time, but because they also happen to have the greatest singer of all time (5 OCTAVES! EFFORTLESS SWITCHING WITHIN RANGE!), and some of the best music videos...
Originally written by bassist John Deacon for his wife, 'You're My Best Friend' using a Wurlitzer electric piano (an instrument Freddie Mercury apparently loathed: "I refused to play the damn thing [the Wurlitzer]. It's tinny and horrible and I don't like them. Why play those things when you've got a lovely superb grand piano? No, I think, basically what he [John] is trying to say is it was the desired effect.- songfacts.com), this song is one of the more mellow, pop songs the band ever released, and does get over-shadowed by much of Queen's library, but there's just something about this song that clicks for me.
And yes, that might be because of the ending of Shaun of the Dead....
Here it is! The first Throwback Tracks Apple Music Playlist, with all of the songs from the inaugural month of 'Throwback Tracks' here on The Guys From. As per usual, I've done my best to turn them into a cohesive list, but it's a little all over the place.
Don't forget to check out the latest Tuesday Tunes for your new music fix, as well as the April Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist here.
See you again next Thursday with some new....oldies.
-S (@Shauncord)