Bread - Baby I’m-a Want You (1972)

“Baby I’m-a Want You’” by Bread (1972)

Release Date: January 1972
Produced by David Gates
Genre: Soft-Rock, Pop, Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening
Label: Elektra
Chart Positions: #3 (US), #9 (Canada, UK), #23 (Australia)
Certifications: Gold (US)
Singles: “Baby I’m-a Want You” #1 (Canada), #3 (US), #5 (Brazil), #8 (France, Australia), #14 (UK), “Everything I Own” #5 (US), #6 (Canada), #12 (Australia), #32 (UK), “Diary” #15 (US), #20 (Canada), #32 (UK)

“Baby I’m-a Want” was Bread’s fourth studio album released in January 1972. By this point in time Bread had 4 top ten hits with their fifth on the way. They were moving into peak of their career with “Baby I’m-a Want You,” which contained 3 Top 15 hits and was their best selling and highest peaking album in the US and Canada.

“Baby I’m-a Want You” by Bread (Click Here) 

“Baby I’m-a Want You” featured Bread at their peak showcasing both their soft and hard sides. Yes, Bread had a hard edge to them in some of their tracks such as “Mother Freedom” with its crunchy James Griffin guitar solo. They alternate fast songs with slow ones and in doing so help to get the overall effect of expression in-the-round, which their earlier albums lacked. The superb soft rocker "Baby I'm-A Want You" made a brilliant opening which set the tempo for the album. The songs range from wistful sentimentality ("Diary") to spirited protest ("This Isn't What the Government," a poor man's "Taxman" with an anti-war slant).

There is no doubt as to Bread's musicianship, for all its members are accomplished and respected studio musicians. Robb Royer left the group before recording “Baby I’m-a Want You” (though his presence is felt due to a couple of tracks he co-wrote with James Griffin), replaced by the versatile Larry Knetchel. This slight realignment makes this one of Bread's strongest records.

The lead single “Baby I’m-a Want You” was released a few months before the album and reached #3 in the US and #1 in Canada. The song was a big hit throughout the world including Top Ten in France, Australia and Brazil. Written by keyboardist and singer David Gates, who says, "I had written the song on piano, and when we recorded it on piano, it had no life. I went home demoralized because I knew it was a good song. So I tried it on guitar and raised it a whole key, then redid it. It made all the difference in the world." “Baby I’m-a Want You” was certified Gold by the RIAA for US sales.

The second single “Everything I Own” was released a few days after the album and zoomed into the Top 10 in the US, Canada and Australia. The song is a classic known by many music lovers and has been recorded by many musicians including Boy George who took the song to #1 in the UK in 1987.  David Gates wrote “Everything I Own” in honor of his father after he passed. If you listen to the words, 'You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, gave my life to me, set me free,' it says it all."

"Everything I Own" (1972)

The third and final single “Diary,” was another beautiful and heart-touching song. It wasn’t quite as big a hit as the two previous singles but it did reach #15 in the US and #20 in Canada. This song is about a boy who is in love with a girl. He finds her diary and reads it, only to find out she is in love with someone else. Bread keyboard player David Gates made up the story. The unusual sound that plays through the track is a guitar run through a synthesizer.

Bread 1972

Link to “Baby I’m-a Want You” (Click Here) 

BREAD

Television - Adventure (1978)

“Adventure” by Television (1978)

Release Date: April 1978
Produced by John Jansen and Tom Verlaine
Chart Positions: #7 (UK)
Certifications: N/A
Singles: “Foxhole” (#36 UK), “Glory” (No chart data), “Ain’t That Nothing” (No chart data)

“Adventure” was the second album release for the New York City formed proto-punk band Television. The album was released in April 1978. It was issued in standard black vinyl in the US, but in red vinyl (matching the cover and inner sleeve) in the UK.

“Adventure” by Television (Click Here) 

“Adventure” exposes a softer side of the band than their first album “Marquee Moon,” which in the end only enhances the talents and versatilities of this rock guitar driven band. “Adventure” is a brilliant work of the 70s that deserves more recognition than it has received. The guitar work is outstanding with its nuances and intensity well displayed in the performances by Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Television blends guitar punk with a garage band rawness that gives the music a certain sort of soul and intimacy that doesn’t exist with the more popular polished bands of the time. Some of the songs are similar to Magazine meets the Rolling Stones.

There isn't a weak song on the album each song flows together creating a work of music that is reflective yet maintaining an uptown type punk rock emotion. "Carried Away", the best ballad on the album, floats away on an organ instead of a guitar; "The Fire" is a melodramatic piece that is defines the band’s introspectiveness.

The merry martial beat and blithe vocal harmonies of "Careful," conjure up memories of folk-rock pop ditties of the 60s such as the Turtles’ “Happy Together.”

Tom Verlaine as always is, a unique and masterful guitarist who doesn't play lines so much as shape them with a sculptor's deliberation. A connoisseur of timbres, he draws on everything from a Middle Eastern jangle to the blues to a crystalline tinkle to achieve — on a song like "The Dream's Dream" — an encyclopedic but unified grandeur.

“Foxhole” the first single from the album was a top 40 hit in the UK reaching #36. The anti-war song opens with the crisp and clear guitar chords of Tom Verlaine and works into his always-recognizable lead vocals.

"Foxhole"

The second and third singles “Glory” and “Ain’t That Nothing” both failed to chart but remain highlight on the album.

Television (1978)

Link to “Adventure” (CLICK HERE)

TELEVISION

Judy Collins - True Stories and Other Dreams (1973)

“True Stories and Other Dreams” by Judy Collins (1973)

Release Date: January 1973
Produced by Mark Abramson and Judy Collins
Chart Positions: #27 (US)
Certifications: N/A
Singles: “Cook With Honey” (US #32), “Secret Gardens” (US #122)

“True Stories and Other Dreams” was Judy Collins’ ninth studio album. For the first half-dozen albums of her career, Judy Collins sang only traditional folk tunes and material by other songwriters. Even when she began to write songs in the late 1960s, her compositions were outnumbered by tunes from other sources on the records she issued during the next five years or so. The 1973 LP True Stories and Other Dreams, however, marked the first album on which her own songs comprised the majority of the material. As usual, though, the record also featured astutely selected tunes from a variety of other contemporary singer-songwriters, some of who had also been recording since the early days of the folk revival, and some of who were newcomers to the music scene.

“True Stories and Other Dreams” by Judy Collins (Click Here)

True Stories and Other Dreams also marked the first occasion on which she received a producer's credit, shared with Mark Abramson, who'd produced her recordings since the mid-1960s. As Judy elaborates, however, throughout their association, "we produced together, truly. I would never have denied him his production credit. But it was also my choices, my thinking, my determination, and then Mark backing me up, helping me get what I wanted to get done. And we knew all these wonderful people, of course." On True Stories and Other Dreams, that support cast included her longtime friend Eric Weissberg on acoustic guitar, banjo, and upright bass; Bill Keith, whose pedal steel lent an occasional country flavor; and even Latin jazzman Ray Barretto on congos and bongos.

The songs on the album showcased Judy’s varied musical interests. The single “Cook With Honey” was alight flavored pop song that reached #32 on the US singles chart. The protest song, “The Hostage” brought us back to Judy’s folk roots. “Secret Gardens,” the second single from the album is a beautiful orchestral ballad about her family. The song bubbled under the US singles chart making it to #122. Opening with Judy’s tender keyboard playing, the wistful “Holly Ann” is about Judy’s sister. Of course there are the fantastic story songs like “Fisherman Song,” where Judy excels. Judy recalls, "I took a little time off in 1972 and went out to Long Island just to do some songwriting," remembers Judy today. "At that point, I wrote 'Fishermen Song.' I was on the beach there and these fishermen sing; they bring in the fish, and they would hand me a fresh bluefish or something for me to cook. So 'Fishermen Song' is really about that experience of watching them fish."

"Song For Martin"

“Song For Martin” is a poignant album highlight about Martin Hoffman, a school teacher, who composed the music for a poem written by Woody Guthrie titled “Deportee.” Hoffman and Judy became friends in the 1960s. Collins remembers, "He was the first person I ever heard sing 'This Land Is Your Land,' up at Lookout Mountain in Colorado," says Judy. "He was a wonderful man, just a sweet man." Hoffman committed suicide prior to the recording of “True Stories and Other Dreams.”

The album closes with the dramatic politically charged “Che.” In an entirely different vein, the seven-and-a-half-minute "Ché"–inspired, of course, by the famous revolutionary Ché Guevara – is one of the most ambitious compositions Collins ever put on disc. She'd been thinking about "the people who betrayed him, and how they might feel, because they were probably Catholics, they were probably poor, they were probably peasants in South America," she reflects. "And I thought, I want to see if I can paint that picture of him. Because all these people get told by leaders what they should do, and how they should live, and it must get to be a burden."

Judy Collins (1973)

Link to “True Stories and Other Dreams” (Click Here)

JUDY COLLINS

Carly Simon - Boys In The Trees (1978)

“Boys In The Trees" by Carly Simon (1978)

“Boys In The Trees” was one of Carly Simon’s most successful studio albums in her entire career. The album reached #10 in the US and #4 in Canada as well as #27 in Australia. “Boys In The Trees” signified a change in musical style for Carly capitalizing on a stylishly serene approach.

"Boys In The Trees" by Carly Simon (Click Here)

After her huge success with the James Bond theme “Nobody Does It Better,” Carly went into the studio with producer Arif Mardin to record “Boys In The Tree.” During this time period Mardin’s productions were known to incorporate bits of R&B and disco into other genres such as pop and jazz. In 1978 Mardin also produced Chaka Khan’s album “Chaka” which includes the classic “I’m Every Woman”

 Three singles were released from “Boys In the Tree” including the international hit “You Belong To Me,” written by Doobie Brothers leader Michael McDonald and Carly Simon. The song was originally recorded by the Doobie Brothers in 1977 and featured on their album “Livin’ On The Faultline.” This was not the first Doobie Brothers song Carly recorded, she also recorded “It Keeps Me Runnin’” a song she featured on her 1976 album “Another Passenger.” Carly took “You Belong To Me” to #6 in the US and #5 in Canada. The second single was a cover of the Everly Brothers classic “Devoted To You,” this was a charming duet performed with James Taylor, this song was not as big a hit as the previous but managed to make it to US #36 and Canada #50. The third single “Tranquillo (Melt My Heart),” written by Carly Simon, James Taylor and Arif Mardin, was a disco tinged rocker that failed to chart but made a great album track.

"You Belong To Me"

Highlights on the album include “De Bat (Fly In Me Face)” a calypso influenced reggae tune shows off Carly’s sense of humor along with backing vocals by James Taylor. “In A Small Moment” is a great predecessor to her work on her 1981 album “Torch.”

The album won a Grammy award for Best Album Package, which went to Tony Lane, and Johnny Lee, who designed the album cover and packaging.  The song “You Belong To Me” received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance but lost to Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me.”

CARLY SIMON