The 1970s, in my not-so-humble opinion, were the pinnacle of popular music. Sure, many of my favorite bands came from the '60s, but when it comes to the perfect fusion of songwriting, production, sound, and diversity, no decade comes close to the '70s. Just think about it. ABBA, Big Star, Bowie, ELO, Curtis, Stevie, Floyd, Zeppelin, Carole King, Joni. It was a golden era, and I truly believe a big part of that magic came from the 16-track 2-inch tape machine, the greatest recording machine in history. Everything from that decade just sounds fucking great.
Years ago I had the surreal honor of producing a record at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Ardent was one of the best studios in the world in the 70's everything from Zep to the one hit wonder DISCO DUCK recorded there. the owner, the legendary John Fry, the producer of Big Star and so much more, came in to studio A to see what we were working on. When he saw that our group had chosen to record on the 16-track machine, he lit up, telling us "that's how we made the Big Star records.". Once recording expanded to 24 tracks and beyond, bands lost something. The creativity suffered. The sound lost its magic. Sometimes, less really is more.
But sometimes more is better, like when we are talking about music box sets. When I was 20 years old, I worked as a janitor at Hastings in Ames. Hastings had one incredible perk: an employee discount of 5% over cost, so for used music it was a dream come true. Right when I started, I spotted the Have a Nice Decade box set, a six-CD collection of songs from the 70's. It covered every genre, from superstars to one-hit wonders. With my discount, I could own this treasure trove of songwriting education for just 14 bucks. It became a key piece of my musical education, a source of endless inspiration, and a wellspring of ideas for mix CDs.
In 2005, when I set out on a solo tour, I took that box set with me. I obsessed over those songs, especially the one-hit wonders, searching for the secret sauce of hit songwriting. One track that always stood out to me as a perfect pop song was Maxine Nightingale's Right Back Where We Started From. The song captures everything I love about '70s music. It effortlessly blends genres, with incredible production, top-notch performance, and great songwriting. The lyrics are so simple, and the music is pure, feel-good pop, yet somehow it taps into that magical feeling of being completely in love or wanting to get back on the track of love. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to move, or atleast air drum. I’m so glad Rudy wanted to talk about it on the Discograffiti Patreon podcast because this song, and so many like it, remind me why I fell in love with music in the first place.
Listen here to the podcast about the song.. https://www.patreon.com/posts/124451876...
By Patrick Tape Fleming
