8/15/70 - It's a Shame (Anne Murray Gets No Respect)

Well here it is, one of the biggest, loudest nights of music of the year...and I'm still at it with my crazy listening of old songs from a bygone era.  Let's face it: while there probably is good music out there, it's tough to find it in the mainstream...at least in the popular circles.  But hey, at least the popular circles of 1970 are still there to be mined, this time with more Aretha, more jamming with Rare Earth, and two newcomers who will have major impact on the pop scene...and yes, the woman in my title is one of them!


It's a Shame - The Spinners

• Album: 2nd Time Around
• Information: After spending several years as mere assistants at Motown after having instant success at the Apollo Theater in 1964 and little else afterwards, this R&B group would finally taste it's first true success with this song penned by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright.  It would be the only Spinners hit to include G.C Cameron, who would only be in the band through their late period at Motwon. Though their biggest hit for Motown, they would soon leave the label on the advice of Aretha Franklin, joining her at Atlantic Records where better things were to come...
• Personal Thoughts: You can tell how cool the song would be from the start, when you hear that double guitar intro, building up to the vocals that seem so cautious and scolding, which sort of gets lost with how funky it is.  Surprisingly this is a real dark song considering how funky and cool it sounds on the outside, just acting all scolding and bringing down the hammer on a cheating woman "messin' round with the man" but hides this message with just probably some of the most memorable guitar work and horn work in soul music.  One admission though: somehow I really should have realized from some of the arrangements that Stevie had his fingers on this song.  When I hear that classic introduction, I think of the way he used guitars at the start of his later Motown songs like "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" or "For Once In My Life" and then we have it with this song...you pretty much could tell he was destined for greater things under the Motown veneer just like the Spinners were.

Snowbird - Anne Murray

• Album: This Way Is My Way
• Information: Though already a rising star in Canada after her first album, it was the release of this song on her second album, the first released on Capitol Records, that ended up becoming Anne Murray's unexpected breakthrough into the American market.  Thanks to this song, Murray became the first Canadian to win an American Gold Record for her success.
• Personal Thoughts: Let me just admit this first of all: I like Anne Murray.  And I like this song.  Don't ask me whether it's just her...or just the fact that I saw this song on "The Muppet Show" (admittedly that's going to be an excuse for a lot of the songs I like that we'll be going through on this blog...at least in the 70s)...but I just have this great connection with this song regardless.  This song is just such a simple one, short and sweet, with a beautiful delivery and just a great feel of a girl observing nature and seeing this little white bird that feels so repersentative of a country with so much ice and snow.  Somehow someone could say that maybe the production values could drown Anne out...or that you could get the wrong context these days thanks to the modern concept of "Snowbirds" (she better not be talking about coke...she can't be!) and "South Park"...but it's a delightful little song and I think there are much worse things one could complain about.

I Know I'm Losing You - Rare Earth

• Album: Ecology
• Information: After their previous successes with a Temptations cover with "Get Ready", Rare Earth released another cover off their next album, likewise complete with a longer version and a short radio version.  Surprisingly, Rare Earth's version of the song did better than the Temptations'...by one rank on the pop chart.
• Personal Thoughts: Just like I did with "Get Ready", I decided to subject myself to the longer version of the song...though this time it's only 10 minutes, not 20.  While I really like the rock groove that Rare Earth gives to it and a lot of the guitar reverberation going on and the largeness of the rock feel, somehow this time it sort of just feels different compared to the "Get Ready" cover.  That song sort of needed a funkier, harder version...while this song sort of was about the point the Temptations were getting funky themselves so all this does is just give another interpretation.  It's not bad with a lot of the riff stuff and reverberating echos and there is a lot of great guitar work in the instrumental part, but nothing really that special to me.

Don't Play that Song (You Lied) - Aretha Franklin (with the Dixie Flyers)

• Album: Spirit in the Dark
• Information: The second song off Aretha's latest album, this one fared better than the title track: hitting #1 in the R&B charts while barely missing the top 10 at a peak of 11.  It was originally written by Ahmet Ertegun and Betty Nelson and recorded by Ben E King where it hit #2 on the R&B charts and, like Aretha's, 11 on the pop chart.
• Personal Thoughts: I have to admit: while I loved "Spirit in the Dark", this song is much more of a toe-tapper, probably from the groove.  I know Aretha's singing a lot of regret and trouble regarding how she's had a lot of love problems here, but a good bass can make even heartbreak about how a stupid jerk lied to her about their relations feel good.  Of course, Aretha is at her best here, just convey so much heartbreak yet showing so in such a way that continues to show why...well, she's the queen of soul.  I really also like the backing, sort of driven by the piano and that groovy bass but also some of the chorus work and even the horns near the end.  But hey...you don't need anything else when you're dealing with Aretha Franklin but it helps.