They had some top songwriters, including Neil Diamond and King/Gaughan. That one came from John Stewart, of the Kingston Trio. I used to play accompaniment for a singer who performed it, thoroughly enjoyed it.
I thought Procol Harum were famous for 'A whiter shade of pale' And 'Nights in white satin' was the Moody Blues (Justin Hayward) apologies for the nit-picking... The word 'white' (or whiter) does feature in both titles. Here's another one - 'White rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane.
(K-Billy's) Super Sounds of the '70's that I discovered in the 1990s after I became disillusioned with the dross in the charts; Bowie Roxy Music Steely Dan Pink Floyd ELO Honourable mentions too for 10CC, Average White Band, Gerry Rafferty... among other easy-on-the-ear songsmiths of the day... One I always liked was 'Year of the Cat' by Al Stewart. Can't get much smoother than that little melody.
The 60s and 70s have underwritten my radio show for over 5 years and even this week I have more than a dozen songs from that era I have never played before. There is very little from the 80s onward that I will consider playing. Although quite a few of those I play would not have made it to TOTP...
There was some good stuff in the 70's, but the singles chart sort of faded away, and the album charts were better. Tamla Motown killed it for me.
I was out of UK from 1980 so was limited in what I heard. I tended to hear only what was in the charts from the radio during visits back to UK and was rarely impressed. There are new artists that came through after 1980 whose music I play but not so many. Stereophonics and Dogs d'Amour will be on tonight.
Interesting to see the lack of love for the 80s and 90s. No Paul Weller fans in ere? I wonder what people think of the first Oasis album, Definitely Maybe.
I play Oasis and Gallagher brothers from time to time. I play Jam but not Weller solo stuff, never really warmed to it.
Fair comment - Paul Weller's 90's stuff was a rare highlight in a dull decade. I did like some Oasis too - Rock'n'roll star was a cracking track. The importance of being idle, She's electric, Half the world away... very good songs. I found Blur entertaining - some of their tunes lampooned things in a kind of 'Madness' style. Country House, Charmless man etc. I loved the 80's pop scene, if I was to list all my favourite 80's sounds (up to about '87 anyway) I'd be here all day.
