An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[daf]

Munich Machine - Get On The Funk Train Pt.1



Reached #41 in the UK charts in December 1977

Munich Machine was a German disco project under the direction of producer Giorgio Moroder, which was active from 1976 to 1980. The producers Pete Bellotte, Günther Moll and Gary Unwin as well as the bassist Stefan Wissnet, the guitarist Mats Björklund and the American singer Chris Bennett were also involved.

[daf]

Leon Everette ‎– Goodbye King Of Rock 'N' Roll



Released as a single, and included with unseemly haste on the snappily titled album 'Goodbye King Of Rock 'N' Roll (A Tribute To Elvis) The World's Greatest Star Has Gone Home Alone' in 1977.

On the evening of Tuesday, August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley was scheduled to fly out of Memphis to begin another tour. That afternoon, his girlfriend Ginger Alden, discovered him in an unresponsive state on a bathroom floor. According to her eyewitness account, "Elvis looked as if his entire body had completely frozen in a seated position while using the commode and then had fallen forward, in that fixed position, directly in front of it. ... It was clear that, from the time whatever hit him to the moment he had landed on the floor, Elvis hadn't moved."

Attempts to revive him failed, and his death was officially pronounced the next day at 3:30 p.m. at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.

   

Leon Everette Baughman was born in Aiken, South Carolina. While in the Navy during the Vietnam War, Everette won a singing contest and decided to pursue a career in country music. Between 1977 and 1985, Everette recorded eight studio albums, including five for the RCA Nashville label.

I assume the date on the record is meant to mark Elvis' death (though it's a day or two out) - rather than when this was actually released.

edit : just checked - the 18th was the day of his funeral.

[Brundle-Fly]

Roots Train - Junior Murvin. Released on Island in 1977.





Probably, the first reggae album I ever heard and I was hooked immediately by the punchy brass and "ba-ba-ba-ba-bahs" of the opening track. Back then, yer mates' older siblings' record collections were always so important, eh?

Junior Murvin (born Murvin Junior Smith, circa 1946 or 1949, Port Antonio, Jamaica, died 2013, Port Antonio, Jamaica) was a Jamaican reggae musician, best known for the single "Police and Thieves" produced by Lee Perry in 1976 (and covered by The Clash in 1977). Murvin's soaring voice and the infectious rhythm made "Police and Thieves" into an international hit during the summer of that year. It peaked at #23 in the UK Singles Chart in 1980.
He died Monday 2, December 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRVmtxHk0fY&feature=emb_logo

[daf]

Norman And The Hooligans ‎– I'm A Punk



Released in February 1977 - kept of the Number 1 spot by Rod Stewart - did not chart

[jamiefairlie]

The Adverts - One Chord Wonders

https://youtu.be/82jD46mG43M



Formed in 1976 in Devon by T.V. Smith (Tim Smith) and Gaye Advert (Gaye Black) as one of the first wave of acts inspired by the Pistols. This is their first single, released on Stiff Records. They went on to release two albums and six more singles before packing it in in 1979.

[daf]

The Rebel Force Band ‎– Living In These Star Warz



Opening track from the 1977 album 'Living In These Star Warz'. Also released as a single in the UK in March 1978 - did not chart

Dan Whitley was running a recording studio in 1977 when he was approached by a dentist with a song idea about a newly-released sci-fi picture. Sometime shortly thereafter, Whitley was talking to a friend, Michael Purdy, about the track. Purdy was looking to produce an album as a "tax shelter," according to Whitley, and suggested they do an entire record of Star Wars-themed songs.

In 1976, some record label executives discovered that it was possible to create an entire label as a subsidiary to the major label, and to write it off as a huge tax loss to help the "real" label remain profitable. The idea was that a large number of albums would be on the new label, and the entire batch would be listed as unsold.

 

Whitley came up with a list of potential song titles and threw them out to the the young musicians working at his studio, Those songs ended up being the 'Living in These Star Warz' album. A voiceover artist was hired to do the Chewbacca and Darth Vader sounds. When asked if any of it was cleared with Lucasfilm, Whitley's response was "we didn't even think about it."

[famethrowa]

Ah boy, I'm just so tired of all these star warz

[daf]

John Inman ‎– I'm Free



Released in July 1977 - did not chart

Are You Being Served? ran for 10 series until 1985. At its height, in the mid to late 1970s, it regularly attracted British audiences of up to 22 million viewers. Inman's portrayal of Mr Humphries won him the BBC TV Personality of the Year in 1976 and he was voted the funniest man on television by TV Times readers. The series also became popular in the United States, where Inman became a gay cultural icon.

Inman also appeared in the 1977 film of the series, in which the characters visited the fictional Spanish holiday resort of "Costa Plonka". From 1980 to 1981, Inman also played Mr Humphries in the Australian version of Are You Being Served?, the only cast member of the original Are You Being Served? series to do so.

   

In Odd Man Out (1977), his own sitcom, Inman played the owner of a fish and chip shop who inherits half of a rock factory; and Take a Letter, Mr. Jones (1981), Inman played Graham Jones, who is secretary to Rula Lenska's character Joan Warner.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Harry Nilsson - All I Think About Is You



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HjLKEpuYEQ

Set adrift on romantic bliss.

Knnillssonn was Nilsson's final album for RCA Records and his personal favourite, as his voice had recovered from the damage done during the 1974 Pussy Cats sessions; his songs were more developed and his singing was in top form.

RCA Records management agreed and had prepared to promote the record heavily as his comeback album after previous efforts were released with little notice and promotion, and were mostly missed by the public. Shortly after the album was issued, Elvis Presley died suddenly, at age 42. Presley and Nilsson both recorded for RCA Records and the unexpected death of Elvis resulted in a complete overhaul of RCA's release schedules and promotion plans.

Demand for Presley's recordings was so high, stores could not keep them in stock. Money and resources allotted to Knnillssonn and other new RCA releases was all redirected to promoting Presley's recently issued final album Moody Blue, as well as developing future Presley releases and reissues.

[Brundle-Fly]

Magic & Ecstasy - Ennio Morricone  Released on Warner Bros in 1977.





Masterful disco prog rock hybrid from the late master himself.  We've covered Ennio before so no bio required and you all know all about him anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXZafbZBTg

[daf]

THP Orchestra - Two Hot for Love



Opening track (and actually the whole of side 1!) of their album 'Two Hot for Love' - released in 1977.

THP Orchestra [Three Hats Productions] were a 1970s Canadian disco group from Toronto. Although Willi Morrison was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland, his desire to enjoy a career in the music industry saw him head to Toronto, Canada. He landed a job with a company that published music for EMI, and while working there met Ian Guenther, a classically trained violinist.

With a publishing deal, the pair were called into a meeting by the president RCA Records, who requested that Willi and Ian record a version of Rhythm Heritage's Theme From SWAT - in attempt at a hit single before RCA's rights to the song expired. Recorded over a weekend, the song topped the Canadian chart, and the cash-in album 'Early Riser' swiftly followed in 1976.

 

For the THP Orchestra's next single, they were asked by Alfonso Juan Cervantes of Los Angeles-based Butterfly Records to record something specifically for the US Disco market. The resulting 15 minute 'Too Hot For Love' was an American club hit, and became the cornerstone of their second album - with the five-part suite 'Too Hot For Love' taking up Side One. With nothing left in the pot, side two cheekily recycled four tracks from the Canadian only 'Early Riser' LP.

[Phil_A]

Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Búkolla

Björk is the only studio album by Icelandic singer Björk as a child singer, released on 18 December 1977 by Fálkinn. In 1976, Björk appeared on Icelandic radio singing "I Love to Love" through the music school she attended, which led her to a record deal and the release, with the help of stepfather Sævar, of her first solo album in 1977.

The album is reputed to be juvenilia work and it is not included in the singer's official solo discography, hence the 1993 release Debut is widely considered to be Björk's first studio album.

The songs were a mixture of covers translated into Icelandic, like The Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill" ('Álfur Út Úr Hól'), Edgar Winter's "Alta Mira", Melanie Safka's "Christopher Robin" ('Bænin') and Stevie Wonder's song "Your Kiss Is Sweet" ('Búkolla'), but it also contained some songs written specifically for the album, like the song "Arabadrengurinn" ('The Arab Boy') written by stepfather Sævar, and one instrumental recorder-tribute to Icelandic painter Jóhannes Kjarval, written and performed by 11-year-old Björk.

Björk was offered the chance to do a second album, but she turned it down. With the money she earned she bought herself a piano and started composing new songs of her own.[6]

The album was released in two formats, vinyl and cassette,[7] in fairly limited edition (at least 7000 copies) and is rare outside of Iceland.

It was recorded at Hljóðriti Studios in Reykjavík. Hildur Hauksdóttir (Björk's mother) designed the cover and the photo was taken at a local Reykjavík studio.

[daf]

Private Pink - Little High Thing



Released in Canada in 1977 - did not chart

Lauren Kennedy : "This is my father playing keyboards on Little High Thing. I was a tiny kid when they cut this track and loved it even then. In fact, I had the only copy left in the family ... can't even talk about what happened to it without crying. That said, I was blown away that someone found it and loved it as much as I did. I'm in complete agreement regarding the particular sound/sub genre you mentioned; it's not for everyone and was quite decadent ... even at time of release. But, even without personal connection to the the song, suspect would covet all the same.  The track was originally titled 'Little High Thing' (no plural). And, when my father called me in the DR to mention that a DJ had re released it on a compilation, I was thrilled. Even more so when I realized who it was. Looking out over the Caribbean ... I was able to hear it again in all it's 'barely touched' glory. A moment as special than being there the first time."

Joani Taylor : "I sang lead and BG's with Rosalind Keene and Melinda Whitaker and the GREAT Ron Johnston on Keys!!!!!    Good times. And produced by Terry Jacks and Peter Sinclair. A memorable session. hahahahahhahaha."

Lauren Kennedy : "Of course you did you amazingly talented super diva!!!  And, I remember beautiful Rosalind and Melinda  playing with my eyelashes like it was like yesterday. Was it recorded at little Pinewood? I can't remember. But, what a song."

[Brundle-Fly]

Snuffin Like That - Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias. Released on Stiff in 1977.

The punk Bonzos?  Word of warning, the song Snuffing In A Babylon features typical 1970s comedy iffiness, The clue is in the title.

Founded in 1973 by Chris "C.P." Lee and Bruce Mitchell (drums), with Les Prior (vocals), Jimmy Hibbert (vocals, bass), Bob Harding (vocals, guitar, bass), Simon White (steel guitar, guitar), Tony Bowers (bass, guitar) and Ray Hughes (second drummer).
The inventor of "Snuff Rock". The band lasted until about 1980





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQotUNNbK5o&feature=emb_logo

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Búkolla

I've long been aware of this album, but for some reason I've never actually listened to it. That track is more charming and tuneful than anything she's produced in the last fifteen years (I love Debut, Post, Homogenic, Vespertine and Medulla, a tremendous run of albums from a great artist, but after that golden patch she forgot how to write melodies).

[daf]

Move over Bill Grundy! . . .

Ome Jan En Punkgaaf ‎– Het Punklied 



Released in the Netherlands in November 1977 - did not chart

I love the old session guitarist attempting their best 'punk' solo at the end!

[jamiefairlie]

Ultravox! - Hiroshima Mon Amour

https://youtu.be/ykP6xSuJNMI



Formed in 1974, this is from their second album of 1977, Ha Ha Ha. Critically acclaimed but lacking a mainstream breakthrough, they recorded one more album before splitting in 1979 after singer John Foxx left, never to be heard of again.
ok, ok, so wee Midge from Cambuslang came along and they reformed but that was a very different beast. John Foxx also went on to have chart success as a solo artist.
What this demonstrates is that punk was not just about the snarling guitars, in parallel and channeling the same energy, the electronic movement that would explode into the charts in 1979 and 1980, was also developing.

[daf]

Little Joe Cook ‎– Mr. Peanut In The White House Chair



Released in 1977 - did not chart

Joseph Cook was born in South Philadelphia, and started singing in church. By the time he was 12, he and three cousins had formed a gospel vocal quartet, The Evening Stars, who had a one-hour weekly radio show in Philadelphia. In the early 1950s Cook decided to make the transition to secular rhythm and blues music. He formed a new doo-wop vocal group, The Thrillers. The group's second single, "Peanuts", released in 1957, rose to No. 22 on the national pop chart.

I think this is a reference both to his old hit, and to the new US president Jimmy Carter - who came from a family of peanut farmers.

After the death of his father in 1953, Carter left his naval career and returned home to Georgia to take up the reins of his family's peanut-growing business. Carter inherited comparatively little due to his father's forgiveness of debts and the division of the estate among the children. Nevertheless, his ambition to expand and grow the Carters' peanut business was fulfilled.  During this period, Carter was motivated to oppose the political climate of racial segregation and support the growing civil rights movement. He became an activist within the Democratic Party.

[daf]

Dickie Goodman ‎– Star Warts



Released in July 1977 - did not chart

Richard Dorian Goodman was an American music and record producer born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for inventing and using the technique of the "break-in", an early precursor to sampling, that used brief clips of popular records and songs to "answer" comedic questions posed by voice actors on his novelty records.

In 1974, Goodman anonymously released 'Screwy T.V.', an album of risque parodies of then-popular TV series. Many record shops kept it "under the counter", due to its cover featuring two nude models (reportedly Susan and Dickie Goodman themselves) seen from the rear.

   

In 1975, Goodman parodied the film Jaws with "Mr. Jaws" becoming Goodman's biggest-selling record reaching #4 in he Billboard chart. Goodman's final chart record was "Kong", spoofing the 1976 King Kong film remake, it peaked at #48 in 1977.

[jobotic]

Robert Gordon - Woman (You're My Woman)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMrU6WH72zQ





1977, disco soon to create house music, punk shattering everything before it....yeah whatever Rockabilly revival mate, it was only twenty years ago. And unlike Showaddywaddy, Robert Gordon had a wonderful voice, looked the part and had Link Wray in tow.

[Brundle-Fly]

Bond '77 -  Marvin Hamlisch  Released on EMI in 1977.





My favourite piece of Bond music ever!

Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only sixteen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an "EGOT". He is one of only two people (along with composer Richard Rodgers) to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize ("PEGOT")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvk2DXxIGE

Great live version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7fEnXC2Snk

[daf]

Charlie Drake ‎– Super Punk



I know it says 1976 on the label, but this was released on the 31st of December 1976 - so would have been a hit in 1977 had it sold enough to chart . . . which it didn't!

Charlie Drake made a number of records, most of them produced by George Martin for the Parlophone label. The first, "Splish Splash", a cover version of a rock and roll song originally recorded by Bobby Darin, got into the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 7 in 1958. In 1961, "My Boomerang Won't Come Back" became a Top 14 hit.

   

In 1972 Drake recorded a spoof song called 'Puckwudgie' on Columbia records. It referred to a 2-or-3-foot-tall being from the Wampanoag folklore. It reached number 47 in the BBC Top 50 in early 1972.

Peter Gabriel, after leaving Genesis in late 1975, produced a flop single "You Never Know", for Drake - which featured, among others, Phil Collins, Sandy Denny and King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp!!

Phil Collins : "It did indeed feature Robert Fripp, Percy Jones, Keith Tippett, me and Peter G. A friend of Pete's, Martin Hall wrote the song, or possibly co-wrote it with Peter, called You Never Know. Apparently Charlie Drake, who was a huge comedy star of the 50s and 60s, wanted to make a record. How he ended up with this line-up I have no idea! It seems the most obscure set of people to make a comedy record. On the day Charlie, who was quite small, turned up with a brand new denim outfit for his rock debut... it was quite touching to see him at it. Percy Jones and I were already in Brand X by then. The whole session was one of life's interesting snapshots!"

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Muddy Waters - The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock and Roll, Part 2



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZveMYqEqJyI

McKinley Morganfield lays it all out.

Muddy Waters was an American singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues" His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude".

In the 1950s, Muddy Waters and his band—Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmond on drums and Otis Spann on piano—recorded several blues classics, some with the bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon. These songs included Got My Mojo Working, Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want to Make Love to You, Mannish Boy and I'm Ready.

[daf]

Amanda Lear - Blood and Honey



Released as a single in November 1977 - did not chart in the UK, but reached #12 in Germany and #11 in Italy

Amanda Lear's origins are unclear, with the singer providing different information about her background. Contested facts include her birth date and place, the gender she was assigned at birth, names and nationalities of her parents, and the location of her upbringing. In Paris, Amanda Lear was introduced to the eccentric Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. She has since described their close and unconventional relationship as a "spiritual marriage" and remained Dalí's confidante, protégée and the closest friend through the next sixteen years.

In 1974, encouraged by her boyfriend Dave Bowie from The Dave Bowie Band, who paid for singing and dancing lessons, Lear decided to launch a career in music. Lear's debut single, "Trouble", a cover of Elvis Presley's 1958 classic, was released unsuccessfully by minor label Creole Records in the United Kingdom. A French-language version of the track, "La Bagarre", became a minor disco hit in West Germany in early 1976. The track caught the attention of the singer, composer and producer Anthony Monn and label Ariola, which offered her a seven-year, six-album recording contract for a sum of money that Lear since has described as "astronomic".

   

Her debut album, 'I Am a Photograph', released in 1977, included Lear's first European hit "Blood and Honey", as well as the follow-up Italian no. 1 single "Tomorrow". The second edition of I Am a Photograph, which also contained German no. 2 hit "Queen of Chinatown", included a free pin-up poster with Lear displaying her unfettered knockers - a photo that originally featured in a Playboy spread.

[daf]

The Band Who Fell To Earth - Starflight



Released in 1977 on a single-sided 33⅓rpm 12-inch single.

Yes, it's another ludicrously long slab of disco from an anonymous aggregation of studio musicians.

[daf]

De Bumpers ‎– Wini Wini Punk



Released in the Netherlands in December 1977 - did not chart

[jamiefairlie]

X-Ray Spex - Oh! Bondage Up Yours!

https://youtu.be/aTfgWegud7o



Formed in London in 1976, they were another first wave punk band inspired by the Sex pistols. This is the first of five classic singles they released in their short lifetime (splitting in 1979), plus one equally impressive album, Germfree Adolescents.
Poly Styrene (Marion Joan Elliott-Said) was a truly original voice in the punk movement, powerful, forthright and resolutely anti-glamour. John Lydon said of her "she had a sound and attitude and a whole energy that was totally unrelated to anything around—superb". She died in 2011, aged only 53.
Half the band went on to form new romantic chancers Classix Nouveaux,

[Brundle-Fly]

Moves - Swingle II Released on CBS in 1977.





A stalwart of The Two Ronnies music interlude. Anything other than bleedin' Elaine Page. Loved 'em.

When the original French a-cappella group Les Swingles disbanded in 1973, leader Ward Swingle went to England where he formed Swingle II with an expanded repertoire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_itEaf9J1P0&feature=emb_logo

[daf]

Wild Man Fischer - My Name Is Larry



Opening track from the album 'Wildmania' - released in 1977

Born in Los Angeles, Lawrence Wayne Fischer was committed to Camarillo State Hospital in 1963 for threatening his mother with a knife, and he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and manic depression. Released one year later, he appeared at numerous talent shows and was discovered by R&B singer Solomon Burke, who gave him the nickname "Wild Man" and brought him along on a tour.

By 1967, Fischer was on medication and acting as a street performer in Hollywood. For a nickel or a dime, he would offer a "new kind of song" to passersby as an a cappella performance. This led him to become an opening act for the Byrds, Bo Diddley, and Iron Butterfly.

   

While performing onstage and outside at the Sunset Strip, he was noticed by Frank Zappa.  He invited Fischer into a studio and recorded him singing about topics such as his mother, mental hospitals, fame, circles, and how he could move faster than a cat could see him. Released in 1968, the double album, 'An Evening with Wild Man Fischer,' was given a positive review in Rolling Stone magazine, where it was described as "capturing the total being of one strange member of the human community".

[daf]

Sam The Sham ‎– The Wookie



Released in 1977 - did not chart

Domingo Samudio was born in Dallas, Texas. Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains. After paying to record and press records to sell at gigs, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs wound up with the XL label in Memphis. There they recorded their first and biggest hit, "Wooly Bully", in late 1964 - which ended up selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1965.

   

In late 1966, three girls, Fran Curcio, Lorraine Gennaro, and Jane Anderson, joined as The Shamettes. The group traveled to Asia as Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs and The Shamettes and released the album titled 'The Sam the Sham Revue'.