Venus - Television

Venus - Television
3:49
Marquee Moon, 1977

Written by Tom Verlaine

Fred Smith, guitarist for Television, died a few days ago.  I could not have named the man before today, but he helped shape some of the most important and let's face it, downright cool music of the 1970s.  This brief but entrancing song pulls together everything great about rock of the era — surreal, image-driven lyrics and extraordinary, interlocking guitar lines — then filters it through the harder, cleaner lens of late-'70s production. Dreamlike, dislocated lyrics ("Broadway looked so medieval, it seemed to flap like little pages / And I fell sideways laughing with a friend from many stages") sit alongside an anecdote about "Ritchie" (Richard Hell) and the suggestion that they "dress up as cops."  That single detail grounds the song in an actual scene, even as the druggy imagery and spiraling guitars make it feel slightly out of this world. It's street-level and cosmic at once, which is exactly Television's sweet spot.  And in addition to all this, it's also a genuine pop song. Amid the bending riffs and nervous fire of Television's playing, there's a sense of structure and immediacy that gives the track lift. It manages to be a great rock song and a great pop song at the same time, without sanding down either quality.

Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

Corre Riba, Corre Baxo - Abel Lima e Les Sofas

3:08

Nos Bida, 1977

Written by Abel Lima, Americo Brito, and Nouhoun Coulibaly

This song ("Run Up, Run Down") is the kind of track that evokes dancing on the beach while holding aloft a sloshing, fruity drink.  Lima is Cape Verdean, but here he leans hard into a sound that's part Caribbean street party, part sweaty African funk jam, with just enough island seasoning to keep it unmistakably from home.  Legend has it, I read, that this fusion style was born when a crate of synthesizers washed up on a Cape Verde beach. The song's built on a swaggering, walking bass line, while the guitar slips in sunny little licks that flirt with Latin riffs. Hip-swaying bongos keep the Latin rhythm going. And then there's Lima belting, shouting, grinning through the verses, backed by a ragtag choir of voices that sound like they're all halfway through a street parade.  An irresistible party of a song.

Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione

Feels So Good [single version] - Chuck Mangione

3:32

Feels So Good, 1977

Written by Chuck Mangione

I became aware, looking through the social media, that Chuck Mangione died on the 22nd.  The Blizzard of Ozzy overshadowed this news, but I think he's worth a tribute, though I know virtually nothing about him.  The pop jazz trumpeter only reached my consciousness through his self-effacing appearances on "King of the Hill."  This version is the single edit; the album version is over nine minutes, and I don't think I could sit through many instrumentals that long that aren't by Miles Davis.  Anyway, this is an upbeat, poppy melody, very much of its smooth '70s era.  Yacht-pop-jazz!

Play It Cool - Alton Ellis

Play It Cool - Alton Ellis

2:39

single, 1977

Written by Alton Ellis

Another mid-tempo Rocksteady groove by Ellis.  I found one source for the year, but not much else; the original Jamaican single has almost no information.  This song is also known as "Rock On Time."  It's a laid back song about, I guess, taking it easy?  The lyrics are not exactly clear in the way rasta songs sometimes get.  "Without money I know / It really makes no difference / I've got love I know / Easy squeeze it makes no riot."  Well, that's hard to disagree with!

Pulled Up - Talking Heads

Pulled Up - Talking Heads

4:29

Talking Heads: 77, 1977

Written by David Byrne

This song is a jolt of uncharacteristic optimism from a band that often came from a dark or detached place. It's a song about transformation; the narrator has been "pulled up" from despair into joy, helped by some unseen hand. Maybe it's divine intervention, maybe friends or seven just self-actualization, but either way, David Byrne sounds genuinely elated here, not anxious.  Musically, it’s all taut motion: twitchy guitars, propulsive drumming, frantic yodel-like scatting, and ascending scales that mirror the lyric's upward momentum. The band build tension and release it in one cathartic rush, a technique that would echo years later in the loud-quiet dynamics of Pixies and Nirvana. Byrne's vocal is gloriously unhinged, half-yelped, half-exultant, with that strange laugh on "There’s really no hurry, I'll eat in a while," a small human crack in an already eccentric performance. Beneath the quirk, though, is real warmth.  Indeed, I read that its placement at the end of the album was intentional, designed to provide a sense of light and catharsis after the darker themes elsewhere on the album.

Laisse béton - Renaud

Laisse béton - Renaud

2:30

Laisse béton, 1977

Written by Renaud Séchan

The title is verlan for "laisse tomber," meaning let it go, or forget about it.  In this delightful fast-paced story song, the narrator is relaxing in various cool locales when tough guys keep coming up to him and demanding his clothes, leading to physical altercations.  It's a tongue-in-cheek bit of silliness with a tacked-on moral: "La morale de cette pauvre histoire / C'est qu'quand t'es tranquille et peinard / Faut pas trop traîner dans les bars/ À moins d’être fringué en costard."  Or, one supposes, have the ability to beat up people in your James Dean jacket and cool cowboy boots.

Thank You For the Music - ABBA

Thank You For the Music - ABBA

3:49

ABBA: The Album, 1977

Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

In this song, the narrator starts out, in a half-spoken style, deprecating herself ("I'm nothing special, in fact I'm a bit of a bore / If I tell a joke, you've probably heard it before"), only to then go on and talk about how great she is at singing and how everyone enjoys that.  Who was it who figured out music captures people's hearts?  Whoever it was, she's a fan.  Well, it's nice to know your strengths.

Rockin' Rockin' Leprechauns - Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers

Rockin' Rockin' Leprechauns - Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers

2:11

Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers, 1977

Written by Jonathan Richman

This is a sweet and corny song much in the style of "Here Come the Martian Martians" and "Corner Store," with a tambourine and (maybe?) a horn, except a bit near the end where Jo-Jo really lets loose and starts almost shouting a verse, until, with a little laugh, coming to his senses and easing up on the throttle and reverting to the "doo dum da da" choruses than the Lovers do so well.  Is it rock 'n' roll?  I personally don't care.  This kind of music is the kind that I like.

Adieu minette - Renaud

Adieu minette - Renaud

3:51

Laisse béton, 1977

Written by Renaud Séchan

The album is often called Place de ma mob.  The song is an acerbic kiss-off worthy of Dylan.  "Sous tes cheveux beaucoup trop blonds / Décolorés ça va de soi / T'avais une cervelle de pigeon / Mais j'aimais ça, mais j'aimais ça."  Or what about "Ton père j'l'ai traité d'enfoiré / Excuse-moi auprès d'lui / Si j'avais su que c'était vrai / J'y aurais redit."  The vocal is measured, almost monotone; the music is an accompaniment.  It's a cold litany more than a musical tour-de-force, mais j'aime ça, j'aime ça.

Ariel - Dean Friedman

Ariel - Dean Friedman

4:24

Dean Friedman, 1977

Written by Dean Friedman

A story song about a girl whom the narrator can't get off his mind.  A manic pixie hippie dream girl.  Ah, the '70s, when anything went and a doofus with a Jew-fro and a sad mustache could get a recording contract and even a hit.  I honestly can't decide whether this song is ridiculously awesome or awesomely ridiculous.  The yowling, strangled chorus of "Ariel."  The bizarre, corny lyrics!  "I said 'Hi', she said, 'Yeah, I guess I am.'"  Or "She had some onion rings, she had a pickle / She forgot to tell me that she didn't eat meat."  Did Al Yankovic write this?  Is this the prequel to "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota"?