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Song of the Day #5,444: ‘Shining Star’ – Earth, Wind & Fire

Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…

The genre-hopping band Earth, Wind & Fire released its sixth studio album, the funk soul classic That’s the Way of the World, in early ’75. The album served as the soundtrack to a film of the same name in which the band portrayed a fictional act championed by a record producer played by Harvey Keitel.

The album made a much bigger impression than the movie, going triple platinum and reaching #1 on Billboard’s albums chart. It also gave the band its only #1 song on the Hot 100 in ‘Shining Star,’ today’s SOTD. I would have guessed that distinction belonged to ‘September’ or ‘Let’s Groove,’ but those songs reached only #8 and #3, respectively.

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Song of the Day #5,443: ‘Camellia’ – Daryl Hall & John Oates

Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…

During this installment of Decades, I’ve had the pleasure of diving into the back catalogs of some bands I know but don’t know well. I hoped that would be the case again for Daryl Hall & John Oates and their self-titled fourth studio album. Unfortunately, my predominant reaction to this one was a shrug.

The album starts strong with today’s SOTD, ‘Camellia,’ a single that didn’t catch on but deserved a bigger audience. Then comes ‘Sara Smile,’ a great song with one of the most baffling first lines in pop history (I mean, “Baby hair, with a woman’s eyes,” what?!). And third track ‘Alone Too Long’ is right in the duo’s sweet spot.

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Song of the Day #5,442: ‘Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)’ – Bee Gees

Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…

My favorite part of doing these Decades posts is discovering new material by artists with whom I’m only superficially familiar. That was the case with Aerosmith yesterday, and it’s definitely the case with the Bee Gees today.

My knowledge of the Bee Gees pretty much begins and ends with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which frankly is more than enough for me to consider them legends. But this is one of the top-selling bands, worldwide, of all time, with 22 studio albums and a slew of compilations, live albums and soundtrack work.

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Song of the Day #5,441: ‘Uncle Salty’ – Aerosmith

Continuing my look at the albums of 1975…

Aerosmith is one of the best-selling rock bands of all time and yet somehow I’ve never heard one of their albums start to finish. I have vague memories of 1989’s Pump circulating when I was in high school, but I never got around to listening.

I know the singles very well, and I’ve certainly rocked out to their greatest hits on countless rides of Disney World’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, but I’d be hard pressed to name a single deep cut.

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Song of the Day #5,440: ‘Can’t Hold Us’ – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Throwing back to the dog days of 2013, specifically the week of May 25, we find Macklemore & Ryan Lewis occupying the top spot of the Hot 100 with ‘Can’t Hold Us.’

I find with both Throwback Weekends and the Decades series that the closer I get to present day, the less I like the music. Give me the hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s all day every day, but once we get into the 90s, 00s and god forbid the 10s, it’s a minefield.

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