Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Today’s classic song of the day is “Right Back Where We Started From” by British singer Maxine Nightingale. It was released in late 1975 in the UK and Europe and in February, 1976, here in the U.S. It hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #5 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. It…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites. This single, released in March of 1972, went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard’s R&B chart. Billboard named it the #13 song for all of 1972. “Oh Girl” was written by Eugene Record, the Chi-Lites’ lead vocalist. Released…
This week we’re featuring organ-heavy tunes and today’s classic organic song of the day is “Why Can’t We Live Together” by Timmy Thomas. Released in August of 1972, this track hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s R&B chart. Timmy Thomas wrote, produced, and played all the parts on this one. It’s essentially an organ and…
This week we’re going all organic, featuring tunes with prominent organ parts. Our first classic organic song of the week is the instrumental track “Green Onions,” made famous by Memphis’ own, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. This one hit #3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts, and rose to the very top of Billboard’s…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Expressway to Your Heart” by the Soul Survivors. It was released in July of 1967 and hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on Billboard’s R&B chart. “Expressway to Your Heart” was an early piece of what we later came to know as Philly Soul. It was written and produced by…
Today’s classic early ’70s song of the day is “Gypsy Woman.” It was originally a hit for the Impressions in 1961 and an even bigger hit for Brian Hyland in 1970. Curtis Mayfield wrote “Gypsy Woman” when he was barely a teenager and his group the Impressions released it as a single in October of 1961. The Impressions’ version of…
Frequent readers of this blog know that I occasionally like to highlight obscure 1960s R&B singles that never made it big on the charts but were later somewhat revived by England’s Northern Soul scene. Today’s classic song of the day is one such obscure tune, “Do It” by Pat Powdrill. This track, released in 1966 on the equally obscure Downey…
All this week we’ve been looking at socially relevant songs from the late ’60s/early ’70s by prominent soul artists. So far all the tracks have been by Motown or Motown-adjacent (Freda Payne, with “Bring the Boys Home“) artists. Today we step away from the Motor City and venture to the recording studios of the West Coast with Bobby Womack and…
Today’s socially conscious track by a legendary soul singer is “Living for the City” by Stevie Wonder. Released as a single in November of 1973, it went all the way to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart. “Living for the City” was the third track on side one of Stevie’s 1973 album,…