This continuing series on the Analog Kid blog takes a look back at some of the best AOR songs from the ’70s and ’80s. All of these songs were radio favorites from my teenage years in Texas, but for some reason you just don’t seem to hear them very much any more. I hope to change that.
“I Need A Lover” became John Cougar’s first Top 40 hit when it peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. Forget the shortened single version– the extended intro is what makes the song a classic. Pat Benatar’s cover version also received a lot of airplay on Dallas classic rock stations when it was released later that year.
Raise your hand if you have somehow forgotten about “Blow Away.” Go ahead, it’s OK– I forgot about it for more than ten years back in the ’80s. It wasn’t until I bought a copy of George’s Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989 compilation (in 1990, I believe) that the song came roaring back to me. Would you be shocked to learn that “Blow Away” was a Top 20 hit in the United States? Well, you shouldn’t be. It’s a gorgeous song, and for me it’s one of Harrison’s Top 5 solo tunes.
I bought a Rainbow best-of compilation about fifteen years ago, and popped the CD into my car stereo on the way home from the record store. The moment I heard the opening riff to “Since You Been Gone,” I was immediately teleported back to 1979. “Since You Been Gone” was written by former Argent guitarist Russ Ballard, and comes from Rainbow’s only album with vocalist Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz).
Night were an L.A.-based band made up mostly of top-notch session musicians. Do the names Robbie McIntosh, Nicky Hopkins, and Rick Marotta ring a bell? The band only recorded two albums together, and “Hot Summer Nights” was a Top 20 hit in the U.S. in 1979. Former Manfred Mann’s Earth Band vocalist Chris Thompson was also in the group, but the lead vocal on “Hot Summer Nights” came from Stevie Lange (the wife of soon-to-be huge producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange). McIntosh would go to join The Pretenders in 1982, and would also tour and record extensively with Paul McCartney in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
John Stewart was a member of the Kingston Trio and a respected songwriter (“Daydream Believer”), but it took a little help from the biggest group of the late ’70s to get him into the Top 10 as a solo artist. Lindsey Buckingham was a big fan of Stewart’s, and he produced Bombs Away Dream Babies and contributed some unmistakable guitar as well. Stevie Nicks added vocals to the Top 5 song “Gold,” and also sang on the follow-up single “Midnight Wind” (#28 on the Hot 100).
Note: Buckingham also plays guitar on two of today’s bonus tracks. One is “Gold,” and it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out the other one!
Posted by The Analog Kid on June 5, 2014 in Rock and tagged Analog Kid, George Harrison, John Mellencamp, John Stewart, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Monkees, Night, Pat Benatar, Rainbow, Russ Ballard, The Pretenders, Walter Egan.
I remember looking at my brother’s copy of the Roaring Silence, thinking it was the coolest album cover I’d ever seen. And of course Blinded by the Light is a killer song.
I have to say, Blinded by the Light has to be one of the most brilliant re-working of a song that I have heard. Maybe you could do a post on reworked songs that were better than their originals….