No matter how much I expand my musical horizons the longer I do
this job, one thing about me will always be true: I am a true child
of the ’70s, and I will always have a certain nostalgic
appreciation for some of the music that was created during this
decade. (The whole disco era is excepted, of course – now we call
it “house” music.)
Oh, sure, laugh if you want. But I’m willing to bet there’s not
one person reading who lived through the ’70s and its music who,
when they hear a song on any of these TV ads for compilations,
doesn’t find themselves singing along, only to catch themselves in
embarrassment. ‘Fess up, kids, we’re
all guilty of it.
Rhino Records, knowing how people drift back to the kitsch that
was their decade, have answered the void in many people’s lives
(you know how long I searched for a 45 of “Black Superman”?) with
Have A Nice Decade: The ’70s Pop Culture Box, a seven-disc
monstrosity containing 161 hits from the decade, along with sound
bites and news stories interspersed with the songs. It’s enough to
make the naysayers puke, and the people who are still waiting to
get into Studio 54 dust off their leisure suits.
Rhino was kind enough to send a 17-song sampler from the set to
me. They’re generous, but not stupid; they had to have known they’d
hook critics like myself into wanting to purchase the big version
for themselves. The songs on this sampler brought back a lot of
memories, and reminded me just how good some of the music of this
decade was.
Is there some cornball music contained herein? Damn right – the
’70s featured a lot of cornball music. Edison Lighthouse’s “Love
Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” is a song that will send chills up
some people’s spines, reminding them of such other little wonders
like Terry Jacks’s “live-for-life” anthem “Seasons In The Sun”
(that was called
sarcasm, kids) and Coven’s “One Tin Soldier (The Legend Of
Billy Jack)”, all of which are on the full version of the set.
But the songs that even I had forgotten were so good are brought
to attention. The Raiders (once called Paul Revere And The Raiders)
had a great song with “Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The
Cherokee Reservation Indian)”, and to be honest, I hadn’t heard
this song in at least seven years. One listen to it off the
sampler, and I re-lived memories of when I heard it at a younger
age. Likewise, The Hollies’s “The Air That I Breathe,” 10cc’s “I’m
Not In Love” and Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)”
shine once again.
There are even songs that take on a whole new light over 20
years since they were first unleashed on an unsuspecting public.
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” was probably seen as
a tale of an unlucky mope in the ’70s, but if you closely listen to
the lyrics, you can hear a pissed-off bloke who was dealt an
unlucky hand in life.
Sure, the selections off this sampler reminded me of a few
artists who I could have lived without hearing again (I’ve
never liked Carly Simon, for example), and some songs seem a
little too trippy-happy (“Love Train” from the O’Jays, though it’s
still an entertaining listen), but this is still a fun disc for me
to listen to and relive memories. (I do wonder, though, why they
chose to put the short version of Foghat’s “Slow Ride” on the
set.)
I wouldn’t mind devoting a whole day listening to the whole
Have A Nice Decade box set (not that I’m dropping any hints
to our friends at Rhino), even though listening to the whole thing
in one shot must feel like watching a retrospective of “Welcome
Back, Kotter” and “Maude” back-to-back. But if you can still look
back at any portion of the music from the ’70s and muster a smile,
then
Have A Nice Decade: The ’70s Pop Culture Box will be an
enjoyable listen.
