50 reasons why 1973 music rocks, Part 2: fiery funk & smooth soul hits
#14–25: Sumptuous singles from Paul Simon & The Doobie Brothers to Stevie Wonder & Marvin Gaye.
In Part 1, I looked at 13 singles that embodied the era’s trends of rock with a glam flavour, a harder edge and a softer side. Now it’s time for funk, soul and reggae to complete my pick of 25 songs that shaped 1973.
14. The Doobie Brothers — Long Train Runnin’
Smoking pot is generally considered inconducive to getting stuff done.
But in the absence of any other ideas, this band of brothers adopted the slang word for a marijuana joint as their stage name.
They started out playing live at a Hells Angels biker hangout in northern California. Yet their debut album had acoustic guitars and a country feel.
A shift in line-up with a second drummer on next album Toulouse Street gave The Doobie Brothers their signature sound and much greater success.
But the band came under pressure to record a swift follow-up. So they cobbled together material from an assortment of jams and old songs.
And one of their greatest tunes came from an improvised piece they’d often played live. From an inauspicious working title of Rosie Pig Moseley emerged a theme of trains featuring “Miss Lucy down along the tracks”.
For a worldwide smash hit, simply add a propulsive guitar riff, bluesy harmonica and a catchy refrain amid rich three-part vocal harmonies.
15. Paul Simon — Loves Me Like A Rock
In the aftermath of Simon & Garfunkel’s first split, Paul Simon wanted to go back to basics. So he taught songwriting classes at New York University.
The process of helping others avoid some of his own mistakes spurred him on to resurrect his solo career.
His self-titled second album embraced musical styles as disparate as jazz, blues and reggae, garnering universal praise.
And his next record, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, was an even bigger hit, embracing yet more musical genres like Dixieland jazz and gospel.
And The Dixie Hummingbirds infuse that gospel flavour into Loves Me Like A Rock’s biblical metaphors and the abiding strength of a mother’s love.
This live performance features The Jessy Dixon Singers, whose backing vocals inject warmth and vibrancy into one of Simon’s best-loved songs.
16. Stevie Wonder — Higher Ground
As a teenage sensation in the 1960s, Stevie Wonder was the precocious face of Motown’s machine-like hit factory.
But as a new decade dawned, Wonder craved more creative freedom.
On his 21st birthday he allowed his contract to expire, then disappeared to independently record his watershed artistic statement, Music Of My Mind.
Re-signing with Motown for an improved royalty rate and full creative control impelled Wonder to produce a run of extraordinary albums.
Unanimous critical acclaim greeted Talking Book, his second album of 1972, with its big hits Superstition and You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.
And Wonder’s embrace of new technology fused the synthesizer with soul, resulting in Innervisions, regarded as one of the finest albums of any era.
Lead single Higher Ground emerged from a 3-hour burst of creativity, pioneering the wah-wah clavinet sound atop a roving Moog bassline.
Surely this must rank among the funkiest ever songs about reincarnation.
17. The Wailers — Get Up, Stand Up
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer joined forces in 1963 as a ska vocal group who soon topped the Jamaican charts with The Skatelites.
They went on to work with legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and his studio band The Upsetters, whose rhythm section became The Wailers’ backing band.
Wider recognition arrived in 1972 with a move to Island Records and a re-recording of Marley’s 1967 composition Stir It Up, first a hit for Johnny Nash.
But 1973 was their breakthrough year. Thanks to two critically acclaimed albums and a mesmerising performance on BBC’s live music show, The Old Grey Whistle Test.
And the strident call of Get Up, Stand Up remains their most potent chorus, forged from the fire of a Marley-Tosh songwriting partnership.
For these were brothers on a mission to give voice to the virtues of standing firm amid the strife experienced in Haiti and their homeland.
Combine that with boneshaking bass, a revitalising rhythm and a melody echoing the instrumental hook of War’s Slippin’ Into Darkness, and you’ve got an unforgettable anthem.
18. Eddie Kendricks — Keep On Truckin’
As a lead singer in 1960s soul group The Temptations, the distinctive falsetto of Eddie Kendricks graced several of their biggest hits.
But right when Just My Imagination reached US #1, Kendricks finally followed through on his temptation to leave for a solo career in 1971.
Their bitter split lingered. As Kendrick strove for success his ex-bandmates scored a hit with Superstar, a diss track that spat venom at his departure.
Kendricks knew he had to get tough, so he discarded saccharine ballads for the rhythm of the dancefloor.
Pretty soon Keep On Truckin’ had revved its way to the US top spot with a fierce riposte.
“In old Temptations’ rain I’m duckin’,
For your love through sleet or snow I’m truckin’.”
And follow-up smash Boogie Down completed the devastating one-two counterpunch as The Temptations’ star began to wane.
19. The Isley Brothers — That Lady
A quartet of brothers used their spiritual grounding from singing in church to forge a promising career in the mid 1950s.
But tragedy struck after lead singer Vernon was killed when a car struck him as he was riding his bike.
It nearly finished them.
Yet the strength of their family persuaded the remaining trio to carry on.
Their journey was long and barren at first, despite one notable cameo from fledgling guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
Regional success only spread nationwide with a move to Motown in 1966 and their first international hit single, This Old Heart Of Mine.
But they felt confined in a Motown straitjacket, so they moved to their own label to develop their sound with the injection of young blood.
For the introduction of two youngest Isley brothers and their brother-in-law made the group 3 + 3, the title of the album that cemented their success.
And a funk makeover of their 1964 R&B song That Lady was the lead single that kicked it all off.
20. The O’Jays — Love Train
Ohio soul quintet The O’Jays seemed to spend most of the 1960s on the cusp of chart success yet always falling just short.
By the early 1970s they had slimmed down to a trio and were even considering quitting the music business entirely.
But a move to Philadelphia International Records with production and songwriting juggernaut Gamble & Huff transformed their fortunes.
Their Philly soul debut album Back Stabbers soon broke through to the mainstream, thanks to their self-titled lead single and follow-up Love Train.
One of the earliest disco songs lit up the US and UK singles charts in early 1973 with its earnest message promoting global happiness and unity.
And with such a catchy refrain, you simply can’t help but hop aboard for a three-minute journey of sunny, soulful vibes.
21. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes — The Love I Lost
In the mid 1960s Holland-Dozier-Holland had become one of the most formidable songwriting partnerships, churning out scores of Motown hits.
But away from the production line of the Motor City, a young duo were busy sharpening their own songcraft on the East Coast.
Gamble & Huff were on the rise in the late 1960s, working with Atlantic Records artists Archie Bell, Dusty Springfield and Wilson Pickett.
In 1971 they set up their own record label as a rival to Motown and created the Philadelphia sound, propelling struggling groups into the limelight.
And Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes just couldn’t seem to break through, despite a couple of minor hits and numerous line-up changes.
That all changed with the recruitment of charismatic singer Teddy Pendergrass and a move to Gamble & Huff’s label.
Heart-wrenching ballad If You Don’t Know Me By Now delivered their first US Top 10 hit in 1972.
And Earl Young’s sliding hi-hat work revamped a syrupy ballad into this brisk yet mournful disco smash suffused with the wounded roar of longing.
22. Barry White — Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up
Languishing in jail for tyre theft could have spelled the beginning of a troubled life for some people.
But when Barry White heard Elvis Presley’s tender ballad It’s Now Or Never while behind bars, his destiny was revealed to him in a blinding flash.
In his first taste of freedom he rejected gang life for the music industry, becoming a noted songwriter and producer for female trio Love Unlimited.
With their breakthrough ballad Walkin’ In The Rain With The One I Love, he’d penned his first million-seller in 1972.
Next, he set up the 40-piece Love Unlimited Orchestra to underscore a series of lush ballads. And he’d already recorded three demos with the aim of promoting a solo male artist.
But the quality of the compositions and White’s sonorous baritone proved irresistible to industry execs, who persuaded him to seize the mic himself.
Chart glory and a legion of swooning ladies soon followed his sensuous allure.
And the rhythmic mantra of the bassline in this US R&B #2 hit locks you into its lustful embrace amid the bump and grind of the dancefloor.
23. Gladys Knight & The Pips — Midnight Train To Georgia
It isn’t every day that you call TV action man Lee Majors, only to hear Farrah Fawcett answer the phone and give you the inspiration to write a song.
Majors’ university pal, songwriter Jim Weatherly, was struck by how Fawcett phrased her plans of taking the midnight plane to Houston from L.A.
Such a dynamite catchphrase needed lyrics, so he thought of a wannabe superstar who didn’t get far amid dashed dreams of Hollywood glitz and glamour.
Cissy Houston, a key member of the Sweet Inspirations, was the first artist to record the song, which had now traded a plane for a train, and swapped Houston for Georgia.
But the most famous version gave Gladys Knight & The Pips their first US #1, thanks to the pathos in the Pips’ call-and-response backing vocals.
Like how those “woo-hoos!” mimic the whistle of a train, departing back to a simpler life for a failed star whose aspirations have turned to ashes.
24. Marvin Gaye — Let’s Get It On
Marvin Gaye had been a Motown marvel since the 1960s.
In the early days he pursued a career performing jazz standards. But his smooth falsetto was much more suited to contemporary R&B tunes.
Duets seemed the best match for his dulcet tones and, in Tammi Terrell, he’d found his perfect foil.
Together they recorded a string of US Top 10 hits and formed an inseparable bond.
But Gaye was devastated when she succumbed to cancer at the age of 24 in 1970.
Intense mourning saturated his masterpiece What’s Going On, a majestic suite touching on themes of police brutality, war, religion and environmental catastrophe.
Despite such a sublime artistic achievement, Gaye continued to suffer.
From writer’s block, the upheaval of Motown’s move from Detroit to Los Angeles, and unresolved childhood trauma.
Yet Gaye rose above all that, melding the spiritual with the sexual on a new collection of sensuous songs to salve his guilty conscience.
And lead single Let’s Get it On resonated across the world, thanks to that gleefully mischievous wah-wah intro and wilful embrace of languid funk.
25. Roberta Flack — Killing Me Softly With His Song
Roberta Flack was a precociously gifted music student, whose career blossomed once she expanded her repertoire beyond classical to pop.
Mere months after she was discovered performing in a D.C. nightclub, she’d recorded her debut album, First Take, for Atlantic Records in 1969.
But it took three years to hit US #1. Thanks to a helping hand from Clint Eastwood, who used The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in his directorial debut, Play Misty For Me.
Further success soon followed with her Donny Hathaway collaboration, which boasted their Grammy-winning performance of Where Is The Love.
Yet she heard her next smash unexpectedly. As soon as it played on an inflight audio programme, she seized a piece of scrap paper to jot down the melody.
And now her classical training came to the fore. Her insight and skill enabled her to play around with the song’s arrangement and structure, instead ending on an emphatic major chord.
The result? Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
And a song whose fragile beauty has echoed through the decades, also netting The Fugees a Grammy for their version in 1997.
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