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70’s

Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill

Maybe my favorite female artist ever. That voice and those great produced songs.

Catherine “Kate” Bush, CBE (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. She is known for her eclectic and experimental music as well as her idiosyncratic performances.

Bush first came to note in 1978 when, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single, “Wuthering Heights”, becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number-one with a self-written song.[3] She has since released twenty-five UK Top 40 singles, including the top ten hits “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”, “Babooshka”, “Running Up That Hill”, and “King of the Mountain”.

 

Billy Joel – Piano Man

William Martin “Billy” Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and a composer. Since releasing his first hit song, “Piano Man”, in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States. Among his greatest hits are four songs i love.

Bruce Springsteen

Where to begin picking favorite songs from The Boss himself?  With over 18 albums and still recording them, and still mattering in 2016 after a career-span of 40 years, it’s hard. Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and humanitarian. He is best known for his work with his E Street Band. Nicknamed “The Boss,” Springsteen is widely known for his brand of poetic lyrics, Americana, working class and sometimes political sentiments centered on his native New Jersey, his distinctive voice and his lengthy and energetic stage performances, with concerts from the 1970s to the present decade running over three hours in length.

His first really important and breakthrough album was “Born To Run” in 1975. From that album my favorites are “Thunder Road” and “Jungle Land”.

From Darkness On The Edge of Town:

From “The River”:

From “Born In The USA”:

From the movie “Philadelphia”:

Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing

Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), his younger brother David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). Dire Straits’ sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, and blues, and came closest to beat music within the context of rock and roll. Despite the prominence of punk rock during the band’s early years, their stripped-down sound contrasted with punk, demonstrating a more “rootsy” influence that emerged from pub rock. Many of Dire Straits’ compositions were melancholic. Dire Straits’ biggest selling album Brothers in Arms has sold over 30 million copies, and was the first album to sell a million copies on CD. And of course Brothers in Arms was in my dad’s collection! So we heard that one a lot.

 

Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky

The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band from Birmingham. They were formed in 1970 by songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterized by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography.[5] After Wood’s departure in 1972, Lynne became the group’s leader, arranging and producing every album while writing virtually all of their original material. Especcialy their 1977 album “Out of the Blue” was played a lot in our residence.

 

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

My favorite, and maybe the post popular, Pink Floyd song. From their album “Wish You Were Here” released in 1975. Pink Floyd remains to be one of the biggest acts ever. With sales over 250 million albums they rank 7th on the list of biggest sales in history.

Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London. They achieved international acclaim with theirprogressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by their use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, extended compositions and elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially successful and influential groups in the history of popular music.

Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by students Syd Barrett on guitar, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass, and Richard Wright on keyboards. They gained popularity performing in London’s underground music scene during the late 1960s, and under Barrett’s leadership released two charting singles and a successful debut album,The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Guitarist David Gilmour joined in December 1967; Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. Waters became the band’s primary lyricist and eventually their dominant songwriter, devising the concepts behind their albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here(1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979) and The Final Cut (1983). The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wallbecame two of the best-selling albums of all time.

Elton John – I’m Still Standing

Another 70’s hero. Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947), is an English pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. In his five-decade career Elton John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world (ranking 5th all time, after The Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Madonna). I’m not a fan of the entire Elton John genre, but really love some poppowerrock songs from the 70’s and 80’s.

Paul Simon

After the duo Simon & Garfunkel split up in 1970, Paul Simon began a successful solo career as a guitarist and singer-songwriter, recording three highly acclaimed albums over the next five years. His album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired “Mother and Child Reunion,” considered one of the first examples of reggae by a white musician. One of my favorites is “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”.

Simon’s next project was the pop-folk album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings. The lead single, “Kodachrome,” was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored “Loves Me Like a Rock” was even bigger.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce.

In 1980 he released One-Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat “Late in the Evening.

 

The best was yet to come. in 1986 he released his most successful solo album. With an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, zydeco and mbaqanga and recorded in Johannesburg, this became an international beauty and the nr 2 best selling album of 1987.

 

Five more albums have been released after this, but they didn’t contain the best of his work like he produced in the 70’s and 80’s. In 2016 a new album will arrive.

Supertramp

Impossible to single out a favorite song. So many good memories of long drives to our holiday destination. Especially my father was a Supertramp fan. “Crime of the Century” and “Breakfast In America” are my favorite albums.

Supertramp are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they later incorporated a combination of traditional rock, popand art rock into their music. They would enjoy greater commercial success when they incorporated more conventional and radio-friendly elements into their work in the mid-1970s, going on to sell more than 60 million albums.

Though their albums were generally far more successful than their singles, Supertramp did enjoy a number of major hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including Hodgson’s songs “Give a Little Bit”, “The Logical Song”, “Take the Long Way Home”, “Dreamer”, “Breakfast in America”, “It’s Raining Again”. Since co-founder Hodgson’s departure in 1983, Rick Davies has led the band.

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