Throwing back to the week of August 10, 1974, we find Roberta Flack atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love.’
This soulful R&B classic gave Flack her third #1 hit in three consecutive years, following ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ in 1972 and ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ in 1973. What a trio! The first two won Record of the Year at the Grammys, making Flack the first artist to claim that award back-to-back.
Throwing back to the week of July 20, 1974, we find soul singer George McCrae with ‘Rock Your Baby.’ This disco track, McCrae’s first single, became a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in ten countries.
There’s really not much to this song, other than a silky groove and the falsetto repetition of the title phrase. I guess that’s all you need sometimes.
Throwing back to the week of June 29, 1974, we find Canadian folk rocker Gordon Lightfoot atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Sundown.’ This was Lightfoot’s only #1 hit in the U.S., though he reached #2 with ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ and #5 with ‘If You Could Read My Mind.’
I like Lightfoot’s sound and I’m only familiar with those hits, so maybe I’ll add him to the potential deep dive list. He released 20 studio albums, however, so perhaps a shallow dive is a better idea.
Throwing back to the week of June 8, 1974, we find Paul McCartney atop the Billboard Hot 100 just as he was a decade earlier. Of course, this time it’s with Wings rather than The Beatles.
‘Band on the Run’ is the title track from Wings’ third studio album, and it’s certainly one of the best songs the band ever released. It finds McCartney imagining a band breaking out of jail, an image he says was inspired by increasing police crackdowns on musicians’ marijuana possession.
After a Taylor Swift detour we’re back to Throwback Weekends, and this is a fun one. The week of May 18, 1974, saw country/pop artist Ray Stevens atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his novelty song ‘The Streak.’
Written in response to the rise in streaking at public events, the song finds Stevens portraying both a TV reporter and the main witness to streakers at a supermarket, a gas station, and a basketball game.
