7/4/70 (pt. 5) - Are You Ready...to Make it to Love Land?

 I sort of hoped and wished I could have gotten this entry up before the holiday, but unfortunately I didn't bring my blog-work stuff home with me to mom's so I ended up holding it off until now.  Anyway, we're now entering the second-half of the first Casey countdown, going this time into a couple notable one-hit wonders, as well as a breakthrough and something that's just so soulful it's just dripping right off the page!



Make It With You - Bread

• Album: On The Waters
• Information: Though on their second album, this song, written by David Gates, turned out to be Bread's first and biggest hit, giving them their only #1.  With it's release in 1970s, it instantly became a popular and well-played song within the emerging Easy Listening genre on the radio.
• Personal Thoughts: Let me be honest: I always thought that "first hit song" means "first album", thus I always thought this song was on Bread's first.  But a lot of times, their first song is from something more current and then a couple "back tracks" enter to eventually attempt their own musical climb.  Such is the case with this song, which came from "On the Waters" and not "Bread", which will have it's own hit eventually.  With that aside, I really like this song, with it's mellowness, the really comforting guitar work and the simple song structure confessing their interest and belief that they'll "make it" and that he wants to "make it with you"...though what he wants to "make" is up to interpretation but probably obvious...yeah, and this was on easy listening!

Are You Ready - Pacific Gas and Electric

• Album: Are You Ready
• Information: Originally formed as a blues band bringing together members of other bands, including Canned Heat, The James Gang, and Bluesberry Jam, where lead singer Charlie Allen came from, this fully integrated band had it's biggest success with this song and single, which was just before a troubling time where it's drummer became incapable of playing due to a car accident, two members left the band and they were even forced to change their name to the simpler "PG&E" due to threats by the utility company who gave them the name's inspiration.  They were also notable for having their music appear in the Otto Preminger/Liza Minelli film "Tell Me You Love Me, Junie Moon".
• Personal Thoughts: I knew this song, but the version I found turned out to be a longer version that I didn't really realize they had, as is the case with a lot of songs out there in the mainstream.  It starts off extremely soulful, with the background musicians giving beat with what almost seems preaching by Allen.  Then the song becomes almost-revival-esque without really leaning or speaking out the religious stuff like a lot a lot of other songs of the era, thus allowing for open interpretation.  Somehow here the gospel-esque style just works, as does the guitarwork.

Love Land - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

• Album: In the Jungle Babe
• Information: A guitarist originally from Mississippi, Charles Wright became notable around the club circuit where he worked with several bands, including the Wright Sounds and the more notable 103rd Street Rhythm Band, who gained prominence due to being discovered and associated with comedian Bill Cosby.  After working out their own sound that's "somewhere between Otis Redding and James Brown", the band began to gain notoriety, growing as such by this doo-wop inspired soul ballad.
• Personal Thoughts: Now this is a neat song that I wish I heard more of.  The soulfulness, the guitarwork, the horn section and the plucking section at one point, and of course that smooth but sweet presentation just shows from the performance.  Somehow with the problems I got prior with the combination of style, I really like how the doo-wop and the funk/soul mesh in this song and makes me wish there were more songs like this.  BTW: check out the cover of this by Tower of Power...this song was definately made for them.

Tighter, Tighter - Alive and Kicking

• Album:  Released as a single
• Information: Singers Pepe Cardona and Sandy Toder came together in the basement of their original bassist and became notable after being discovered by Tommy James.  James originally wrote "Crystal Blue Persuasion" for them, but instead chose to record it with his band, The Shondells, and wrote this as a consolation gift with Bob King, a gift that would ultimately sell a million albums and get a gold record.
• Personal Thoughts: This song is such a standard on the radio and you can sort of get it with it's rhythm and some of it's presentation and what sounds like standard late 60s horns (and somehow I can sort of make it out a bit as a Tommy James song), but somehow I think there is something off about the song.  Maybe it's just the beat of the song or the singers and how they present it...it's an OK song for me but that's it. 

My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains

• Album: White Plains
• Information: Evolved from a British band known as the Flower Pot Men and lead by Tony Burrows (who did studio work in a bunch of other bands), this single released at the start of 1970 was the band's biggest hit in the US and the first of several notable hits in the UK, only eclipsed there by their cover of "Julie Do You Love Me".
• Personal Thoughts: Now this is classic pop, from Burrow's singing (which sort of reminds me of an early 60s song somehow in this), the guitar work and the catchy beat that never gets tired no matter when I hear it...heck, I even hear a bit of howling at the end!  It's just a very poppy, optimistic, happy song...and sometimes that's all we need in this world.  BTW: be prepared for more of Tony Burrows...like in a few of the next songs on this blog!