Last week was different both at home for needing less on due to the very hot weather and of course having a content a bit different from the run of the mill on this blog.
After a brief run with alternative offerings, Now That's What I Call Music returned September 8th to the Yearbook series interestingly bypassing the last 1970's batch and going with 1973 which signals the series will run from 1970 to 1974 rather than opting for 1977 although I'm sure that'll emerge soon.
1973 is a year I know well - possibly even too well - being but a year out of double digits in a year that obviously included religiously watching Blue Peter and John Craven's Newsround where I learned about Skylab, I started to notice I liked girls clothes and a good deal of industrial action took place apart from catching The Sky At Night.
My older brother was a bit of influence musically, as I watched Top Of The Pops with him and he'd play records to me such as Roger Daltrey's (of the Who) Giving It All Away and I'm Free although I had my own suitably "tween" ones.
As with the reminder of this series on cd you have a bare bones folded card 4 cd edition and a book with a short write up on each song and a quiz which is what I opted for while for record fans there is a shorter 3 lp 47 track edition too.
I could easily criticize it for including a few songs that just were not UK hits like Blinded By The Light and Rocky Mountain Way as much as I like Bruce Springsteen and Joe Walsh plus for contractual reasons we don't have David Bowie's RCA era hits which include Drive-in Saturday and Sorrow plus missing out Gary Glitter who had two big number one singles and few others this year.M
We'll take a tour around this set.
Opening the first cd we have the iconic ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ from Elton John from the amazing double lp of the same name and followed by Paul McCartney & Wings’ Bond theme ‘Live And Let Die’ proof he's got past been seen as an ex-beatle but a serious solo artist, this epic beginning to this journey back to 1973 continues with a run of massive Glam-Rock infused hits from T. Rex, Mud and Alvin Stardust, and #1s from Suzi Quatro, Wizzard, 10cc, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ from Slade and Sweet with ‘Blockbuster’.
Pop classics from Gilbert O’Sullivan with the #1 ‘Get Down’, and from Jackson 5, The Osmonds and the re-issued ‘The Laughing Gnome’ from David Bowie lead into some soulful vocalists including Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart and Gladys Knight & The Pips to complete this first disc.
Disc Two opens with an awe-inspiring run of legendary artists: John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon, plus the debut single from Bruce Springsteen with ‘Blinded By The Light’ and timeless signature releases from Billy Joel with ‘Piano Man’ another great non hit and ‘You’re So Vain’ from Carly Simon that got everybody wondering just who she meant.
Defining tracks from Ike & Tina Turner, Thin Lizzy and Stealers Wheel lead into Rock classics from Faces, Free, Electric Light Orchestra, Status Quo, Joe Walsh, Alice Cooper and Nazareth… and the disc closes with ‘Albatross’ from Fleetwood Mac – a #1 in 1969 and a #2 when re-released in 1973.
A run of stunning ballads kicks off the third disc; Paul McCartney & Wings with ‘My Love’ which was to become a "standard", Roberta Flack with the peerless ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’, and ‘Always On My Mind’ from Elvis Presley before Diana Ross with Touch Me In The Morning ushers in an incredible line-up of Soul smashes including from, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes feat. Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Paul, Barry White, The Temptations, Michael Jackson and ‘Let’s Get It On’ from Marvin Gaye.
In hindsight it is easy to forget just how much great soul music was on the chart from the Atlantic, Motown and Philadelphia International stables.
The final disc is all about more huge Pop smashes, opening with the era-defining ‘The Ballroom Blitz’ from Sweet, second inclusions for Suzi Quatro and Mud, plus Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, Barry Blue and the debut hit from David Essex, ‘Rock On’. Donny Osmond’s #1 ‘Young Love’ and 1973’s biggest seller - Dawn feat. Tony Orlando’s ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon...’ lead an Easy-Pop run including massive hits from Shirley Bassey, Perry Como, Olivia Newton-John, Eurovision singles; winner Anne-Marie David, Cliff Richard’s second contest entry, and #1s from Peters & Lee, plus ‘Eye Level’ - the theme to one of the year’s most popular TV shows by the Simon Park Orchestra.
This Yearbook 1973 closes in magnificent style with two of the biggest and most loved Christmas classics of all time – Wizzard with ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ and ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ from Slade.
Back then Christmas hits were a thing and we loved those two.
In the main though when you look at all that it does deliver on those hits we did like, that take us back that year which is really the strength of this set as anthologies of this era back then were either the "soundalike" Hallmark Top of the Pops 12 track selections or ghastly sounding 22 or even 24 track K tel single lps with cut down songs and thin sound to get it all to fit.
I was bought the Top of the Pop's ones which at least sounded better on my portable stereo record player with built on AM radio which lived in my bedroom.
Strongly recommended.
As has become usual, there is a top up three cd set with 60 more hits from 1973 some of which did belong more as hits of the first set than what was included but, hey, there at least here covering everything from pop, soul, glam rock and even French crooners!
Disc: 1
1 Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me - Slade
2 Angel Fingers - Wizzard
3 Solid Gold Easy Action - T.Rex
4 Hell Raiser - Sweet
5 Daytona Demon - Suzi Quatro
6 Hypnosis - Mud
7 Do You Wanna Dance? - Barry Blue
8 All the Way from Memphis - Mott the Hoople
9 Pyjamarama - Roxy Music
10 Lamplight - David Essex
11 The Dean and I - 10cc
12 Why Oh Why Oh Why - Gilbert O'Sullivan
13 The Twelfth of Never - Donny Osmond
14 Daddy's Home - Jermaine Jackson
15 The Look of Love - Gladys Knight & The Pips
16 Break Up to Make Up - The Stylistics
17 Skywriter - The Jackson 5
18 I'm Doin' Fine Now - New York City
19 Ghetto Child - The Spinners
20 Why Can't We Live Together - Timmy Thomas
Disc: 2
1 Hi, Hi, Hi - Paul McCartney & Wings
2 Showdown - Electric Light Orchestra
3 Joybringer - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
4 Broken Down Angel - Nazareth
5 All Because of You - Geordie
6 Paper Plane - Status Quo
7 Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group
8 Hello Hooray - Alice Cooper
9 God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You - Argent
10 The Free Electric Band - Albert Hammond
11 Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers Band
12 Pick Up the Pieces - Hudson-Ford
13 Loves Me Like a Rock - Paul Simon
14 Baby I Love You - Dave Edmunds
15 Hallelujah Day - The Jackson 5
16 Keep On Truckin' - Eddie Kendricks
17 Take Me Girl, I'm Ready - Jr. Walker & The All Stars
18 You're a Special Part of Me - Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
19 Pillow Talk - Sylvia
20 Drift Away - Dobie Gray
Disc: 3
1 Daniel - Elton John
2 The Right Thing to Do - Carly Simon
3 Time in a Bottle - Jim Croce
4 Delta Dawn - Helen Reddy
5 Rocky Mountain High - John Denver
6 Dueling Banjos - Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandel
7 My Friend Stan - Slade
8 The Groover - T.Rex
9 Ball Park Incident - Wizzard
10 Honaloochie Boogie - Mott the Hoople
11 Randy - Blue Mink
12 Step Into a Dream - White Plains
13 Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose - Dawn
14 Pinball Wizard/See Me Feel Me - The New Seekers
15 Avenues and Alleyways - Tony Christie
16 I've Been Hurt - Guy Darrell
17 Spanish Eyes - Al Martino
18 Fool - Elvis Presley
19 The Old Fashioned Way (Les Plaisirs Démodés) - Charles Aznavour
20 Monster Mash - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett & The Crypt Kickers
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