While these probably don’t fit the traditional mold of what is normally considered light rock, they are all very singable and are favorites of mine.

10. The Broken West – Abigail

This is almost more like 60′s light rock than 70′s with its quirky hook, background vocals and jangly guitars, but it’s a good pop song and that’s really all that matters.

Abigail – The Broken West

9. The Damnwells – Heartbreaklist

Sometimes, light rock can be a ballad. In this case, it is. The Damnwells slow and sparse “Heartbreaklist” is a good, sad song for a cold day.

8. Finn Brothers – Anything Can Happen

I first heard this I think on an ad for HBO or TNT or something like that. The prolific nature of the Brothers Finn and their pop music sensibilities over the years makes them good candidates for this list and “Anything Can Happen” is a fantastic, sing-songy acoustic rocker in 3/4.

7. Jonatha Brooke – Eye in the Sky

This song could probably make it on my regular Light Rock Monday by its original artist, the Alan Parsons Project. In fact, “Don’t Answer Me” was already featured. The singer-songwriter Brooke has never received much recognition even with a Lilith Fair stint and it’s a shame because she has an amazing voice. This sweet, acoustic version of “Eye in the Sky” is showcase for it.

6. k.d. lang – Extraordinary Thing

k.d. lang may be the best singer on the planet. What’s more, she’s freaking cool! This song is from her Summerfling album that was co-written and produced by Abraham Laboriel, Jr., who is, among other things, the drummer for Sir Paul McCartney. This is just a great pop song in the vein of Tears for Fears. Check the odd syncopation of the guitar in the middle break.

Extraordinary Thing – k.d. lang

5. Wilco – What Light

This may be one of the smartest songs in the last 20 years. Leave it to Jeff Tweedy.

When the whole world’s singing your song,
And all your paintings have been hung,
Just remember what was yours,
Is everyone’s from now on.

4. Duncan Sheik – Magazine

There are quite a few songs from Sheik I could pick. He fits the category quite nicely and his new album Whisper House is really amazing. But, I love this song for its interesting lyrical content and shape shifting melody.

3. Fountains of Wayne – Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim

Fountains of Wayne have a way with melody. They can deliver some pretty rockin’ stuff or they can sing a sweet, heartfelt ballad like this one.

Michael and Heather on the shuttle bus,
Staring alongside the rest of us.
Michael says, “Heather, have you had enough?”
Heather says, “Michael, you know that it’s you I love.”

2. Guster – Satellite

Now, THIS is a song that would fit perfectly in the late 70′s. It almost feels like Fleetwood Mac, but with those signature soft, clear Guster vocals. This is one of my favorite songs in the last ten years, light rock or otherwise.

1. Ben Folds – Still Fighting It

This song reminds me of my dad and that makes me happy and sad. I rarely can get past the words, “You’re so much like me. I’m sorry.” without crying. Ben Folds is the epitome of great songwriting that doesn’t have to take itself too seriously.

The video below is from Austin City Limits, but do yourself a favor and watch the video Folds made for the song with his son. I can’t embed it, but it is tremendous.

A former girlfriend of mine has this awesome cat named Tubby. When I would hang out over at her apartment, I would, naturally, pet Tubby and pay attention to her like I do my own cats. I even wrote a song for her to the tune of today’s light rock song, “Lady” by the Little River Band.

My lyrics went:

Tubby, let me take a look at you now.
You’re there on the blanket box,
Makin’ me wanna pet you somehow.
Tubby, I think it’s only fair I should say to you,
Don’t be thinking I don’t wanna pet you, cuz, Tubby, I do.

The first time I sung this, my ex appeared from around the corner and said, “You are so weird” and laughed.

I have made up songs for many of my animals and I have friends who have done the same. I recently found out that two friends of mine have songs they sing to their dogs to the tune of “Still Fighting It” by Ben Folds. We’re all a little weird I guess.

Anyway, in honor of Tubby I present you with “Lady,” a song by Australian 70′s light rockers Little River Band. LRB is one of those bands I often refer to when discussing middle of the road pop bands of the 70′s. They had a handful of hits (none reaching number one) and a very solid career selling 25 million records worldwide, but they aren’t a band everyone knows right off.

“Lady” reached #10 on the Billboard charts in the US and has been featured in a number of movies. Like a lot of the songs I love from the 70′s, “Lady” contains some really odd if not completely nonsensical lyrics that sound like they may have been yanked from a rhyming dictionary, but probably made a lot of sense in the pale haze of the cocaine-coated late 70′s.

Look around you, look up here
Take time to make time, make time to be there
Look around, be a part
Feel for the winter, but don’t have a cold heart

Honestly, I don’t even know what the hell that means.

And I love you best
You’re not like the rest
You’re there when I need you
You’re there when I need
I’m gonna need you

Well, thankfully, he loves you best because otherwise all that work of being there when he needs you would be a huge waste.

A long time ago I had a lady to love
She made me think of things I never thought of
Now she’s gone and I’m on my own
A love song has come into my mind
A love song, it was there all the time

Again, what the hell? You just said you had someone and now you’re talking about someone you lost. Stay on point here, buddy.

So lady, let me take a look at you now
You’re there on the dance floor, making me want you somehow
Oh lady, I think it’s only fair I should say to you
Don’t be thinkin’ that I don’t want you, ’cause maybe I do

It’s really like someone just threw a bunch of lyrics together that rhymed and said, “Hey, that sounds good.” First, he has a lady, then he HAD a lady and now he’s looking at a lady. And she’s making him want her “somehow,” like he’s not sure and that trend continues when he says “maybe” he wants her. I’m glad he thinks it’s fair to tell her that maybe she’s hot enough for him to want her, but maybe not.

I smell commitment issues.

Look around, come to me
I have no answers, but know where I wanna be
I look around, play a part
I was born in the winter and cooled by a warm heart

Again, no clue. I don’t think they have a clue either. How the hell are you cooled by a warm heart?

This is proof that a really good melody can overcome even the most ridiculous of lyrics.

Video and Song Stream on LastFM
Wikipedia (Band)
Band Official Website
Lyrics

The undisputed king of the 70′s pop star porn stache is John Oats. This has absolutely nothing to do with the song for today, but it needed to be said because, I mean, look at it!

Daryl Hall and John Oates, both from Philadelphia, began performing what they called “rock and soul” in the early 1970′s. They have had 34 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 including six that went to number one. They have six gold and six platinum albums and sold over 80 million records worldwide.

But, their first albums had very little success. It wasn’t until the release of “Sara Smile” in 1976 that they had their first hit and that was followed by today’s song, “She’s Gone.” The song was recorded for one of the first H&O records in the early 70′s, but re-released by the label in 1976.

“She’s Gone” is a soul ballad about heartbreak. It’s expertly performed, has a great hook and contains a rarely heard three straight key modulations right before the last chorus, which is shocking enough. But, what the hell is with the lyrics?

Sorry Charlie for the imposition
I think I’ve got it, got the strength to carry on
I need a drink and a quick decision
Now it’s up to me, ooh what will be

Um, she’s gone, dude. You just sung it! There’s no quick decision to make. The bartender (or the tuna fish guy) can’t help you with this one.

Up in the morning look in the mirror
I’m worn as her tooth brush hanging in the stand

Um, gross. Frankly, any chick who would use her toothbrush so long that you can tell immediately it is worn down is probably not really worth saving. Dental hygiene is like important.

Think I’ll spend eternity in the city
let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away

I’m not a scientist or anything, but I don’t think it’s not “carbon and monoxide” so much as it’s just “carbon monoxide.” And it probably won’t choke your thoughts away. It’ll just like, you know, kill you, which puts a damper on that whole spending eternity in the city thing.

She’s Gone Oh I, Oh I’d
pay the devil to replace her

Why would you pay the devil to replace her? Wouldn’t you pay the devil to bring her back? You can probably replace her yourself without having to pay anyone, especially Satan.

Clearly, this girl leaving has messed this dude up.

Stream “She’s Gone” on BlipFM
Lyrics
Hall & Oates Official Site
Wikipedia

Hall & Oates on the Daily Show:

There are songs that are great for listening, dancing, steering wheel drumming and whistling, but there are few songs that are as good for singing in the shower as “Easy” by the Commodores. Ok, for me anyway.

Sure, Lionel Ritchie looked like he emptied an entire crate of Soul Glo onto his head every night and a band that penned the funk anthem and ode to bodies that go KAPOW! “Brick House,” turned soulfully wussie with the release of this ditty, but, damn is it ever good for sangin’.

In fact, it was “Easy” that led the funk outfit to get all ballad-y and eventually release their biggest hit, “Three Times a Lady.” “Easy” reached #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and #4 on the Hot 100 Charts in 1977 and has been covered by a number of artists, but none nearly as awesome as the literal version done by Faith No More.

Unlike the typical ballad with it’s sweet love themes, “Easy” is a soulful slap-yo-momma-in-tha-kissah song about a guy who is sick of his girl’s lame ass ways, so he kicks her to the curb and turns free agent.

Know it sounds funny
But I just cant stand the pain
Girl I’m leaving you tomorrow

Listen, girl. Pain ain’t funny, you dig? This a MAN we’re talking about, the kind of man who has the balls to announce that he’s leaving you tomorrow. Not now. Not in a minute. To-freaking-morrow! That’s gumption with a capital umption!

You know I’ve done all I can
You see I begged, stole
And I borrowed

I mean, what else can a brother do? The guy is practically a criminal for your love and he’s had enough, baby. You gotta let a man be.

Why in the world
Would anybody put chains on me?
I’ve paid my dues to make it

Seriously, sugar, why would you try to put chains on a man so cool and successful as him? He’s paid his damn dues already! Give a brother a break!

Everybody wants me to be
What they want me to be
I’m not happy when I try to fake it!

It breaks my heart to see this poor guy getting steamrolled like this. Nobody wants it to be real. He has to fake it so bad, he needs an exclamation point and he’s NOT happy!

I wanna be high, so high
I wanna be free to know
The things I do are right
I wanna be free
Just me, babe!

Let a boy be high already. Give him back his joint and let the man go.

It should be noted that the above bridge is freaking great for singing so loudly you wake your neighbors and is only second in coolness to the killer fuzzy guitar solo that comes immediately after it. Ritchie leads into the solo with a nasty “EEEWWW!” and boom goes the dynamite. The solo is SO cool, in fact, you can sing it too and, oh yes, I do.

Stream “Easy” on BlipFM
Lyrics
Wikipedia (Song)
Wikipedia (Commodores)

There were a lot of bands in the late 70′s that weren’t just one-hit wonders. Some of them sunk so far into a popular genre, they were mistaken for other, more popular acts.

Enter Player whose #1 hit single in 1977, “Baby Come Back,” was often incorrectly attributed to the more successful white soul duo Hall and Oates. “Baby Come Back” was just the kind of soulful, white guy funk that Hall and Oates became popular for producing and Player emulated it perfectly if for only that one song.

Formed in LA, Player rose to popularity with their one hit and with a stint as the opening act for Eric Clapton. They never did much after their one hit recording only four albums total in their brief lifespan as recording artists. The various members split up and found other outlets including Ron Moss, who has been a regular cast member of the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful since 1981.

Peter Beckett performed live with another 70′s soft rock group, Little River Band, in the 80′s and would do “Baby Come Back” at live shows. J.C. Crowley managed to carve out a nice country career for himself in Nahsville landing a few top 20 hits as a solo artist.

The band is reportedly working on a reunion, perhaps on the strength of their hit song’s inclusion in the flim Transformers or in the commercials for Swiffer. Who knows?

One thing is for sure, as good as “Baby Come Back” might be, Player is no Hall and Oates.

Stream “Baby Come Back” on BlipFM.
Lyrics
Wikipedia (band)
Wikipedia (song)

In the mid-70′s, there was a lot of blending going on and I’m not just talking about mixing bananas with daquiris or cocaine with heroin. Bands were experimenting with different stylistic concepts, which gave us the inspired – Joni Mitchell mixing folk, pop and jazz, for example – and the disastrous – the bizarre combination of disco and ducks.

One very popular musical experiment brought us a wave of California-inspired folk/pop/country artists, the most successful of which was the Eagles.

Others followed like Pure Prairie League, Jackson Browne and this week’s selection, Orleans. While they weren’t born in California, they did come from the hippie haven of Woodstock, New York and wrote a number of hits including their biggest and most annoying, “Still the One.” Anyone who watched television in the 80′s remembers ABC’s dreadful overuse of “Still the One” for its promotional campaigns.

It should also be noted that Orleans is responsible for one of the most disturbingly homo-erotic album covers of all time. Few things are as unappealing as a bunch of shirtless, bearded 70′s guys hanging all over each other. Ack!

“Dance With Me,” released in 1975, reached #6 on the Billboard charts and is one of those sweet, sensitive 70′s songs that is all about dancing, being happy and all the things those of us who grew up in that era reminisce about when we picture the dreamy golden glow of our youth. When I hear this song, I immediately picture a beach bonfire surrounded by bronze, blond hippie chicks and dancing, drinking beer and smoking weed. Granted, this is not from memory because I was like 6 when this song came out and I don’t remember dancing on a beach with half naked, stoned hippie chicks, but, then again, I was probably stoned too. Thanks mom!

What makes “Dance With Me” so musically interesting (to me anyway) is the fact that the entire song save one line is sung with lush vocal harmonies and only backed by acoustic guitar and bass. Because of that, the one bridge line of the song sung solo stands out and makes for an incredibly catch hook.

Mostly when I hear “Dance With Me,” I imagine a sensitive 70′s chick in a cowhide bikini, mini skirt and cowboy boots, her hair in braids, swooning over some folk-country singer as he serenades her with his beat up Kay acoustic guitar on some secluded beach, their VW van sitting silently in the background while a fire crackles and waves crash along the shoreline…right before they are hacked to death by a machete-wielding serial killer who just escaped from a prison for the criminally insane. Wait, that’s a movie.

Anyway, let’s be honest. This may have been the only way for a balding guy with a massive beard, a caved in chest and a meek sense of hopelessness to score with a hot hippie chick – that, a box of red wine and sweet, sweet pity.

Stream “Dance With Me” on BlipFM
Lyrics
Orleans Wikipedia

When you want smooth, soul music, there is no better decade than the 70′s. Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and…Gino Vannelli?

Gino Vannelli is nothing if not enigmatic. His name sounds like he should be the manager of a mob-owned Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s Little Italy, but he’s actually a successful singer, songwriter and performer from Canada who now lives in The Netherlands. He’s won multiple Juno awards and was the first white singer to appear on Soul Train (or Sooooooooul Train for those who remember the intro) – interesting considering Vannelli’s hair in the 70′s looks like he could use some Soul Glo.

I’ve always liked “I Just Wanna Stop,” a soulful pop song that reached #4 on the Billboard charts in 1978, but I wasn’t really aware that this song was Vannelli until recently. I had always know Vannelli as the guy who recorded the 80′s new wave hit “Black Cars.” I had no idea he got his soul on too.

Vannelli continues to perform including a sold-out stints in Las Vegas in 2007. In addition, the Boston Celtics have made Vannelli a bit of a cult hero with the popular video they use of a dancer from American Bandstand in the mid-70′s wearing a shirt that just says “GINO.” Leave it to Boston to revitalize both “Sweet Caroline” and Gino Vannelli.

On his website, Vannelli certainly hasn’t lost his flair for the dramatic posting this in early February:

Shot my first video in over fifteen years – location, a chichi haunt called, Jimmy Woo – a multifarious Chinese puzzle of blind alleys leading to dark corners. Took me a while to acclimate to the charmed and perfumed air teeming with half-naked nymphs taking to the dance floor like Thompson’s gazelles. As always, the music transports me to where I ought to be. Something about the high-speed shuddering (harmonic motion) in the head when I sing that reigns me in. Think it’s not unlike the whirling dervish’s experience.

Ok, Gino, whatever you say. Almost as weird as the intro to the video for the song below in which a crazed crowd tears across the stage and is chased off by roadies and bouncers before the Canadian singer fades in and the crowd noise fades out.

Apparently, WTF moments abound when it comes to Gino Vannelli.

Stream “I Just Wanna Stop” on BlipFM
Lyrics
Wikipedia for Gino Vannelli
Gino Vannelli Official Website

There’s something so comfortable about the soft sunny glow of 70′s acoustic guitar rock. Such is America and their hit, “Sister Golden Hair.”

Even the name evokes the image of a golden hippie girl in her sun dress with flowers in her hair. Led Zeppelin similarly mused in “Going to California,” allegedly basing their girl “with flowers in her hair” on Joni Mitchell. It was the ideal of a free and easy lifestyle on California’s sun-drenched coastline. America brought that to life with this light rock classic.

Despite their folksy sensibility and seemingly patriotic name, America was born in London. The three primary members, sons of American military fathers and British mothers, met in high school in England where their fathers were stationed.

They were oft criticized, even in their time, for their soft rock tendencies, but they delivered some huge hits including “Sister Golden Hair” and “Horse with No Name,” both of which reached #1 on the Billboard charts. They were so popular in fact, they attracted the attention of Beatles producer George Martin, who produced several of the band’s records including Hearts, the album that contained “Sister Golden Hair.”

What is so great about this song is how casually it treats something people today fight to preserve as sacred: marriage. The very first verse tells the story:

Well I tried to make it Sunday,
But I got so damn depressed,
That I set my sights on Monday,
And I got myself undressed.
I ain’t ready for the altar,
But I do agree there’s times,
That a woman still can be a friend of mine.

The premise here is that the singer stood up his girl at the altar (in reality or in metaphor), but still wants to continue seeing her.

It’s a classic 70′s theme much like “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” and, of course, both sung from a man’s perspective.

The funny part is that it’s all very innocent. There isn’t the inherent seediness that you might find in something like this today. It’s not some hard core adversarial breakup. The singer honestly thinks this could be a beneficial arrangement for both of them. The guy says he loves her, so why not? This was the 70′s after all. If you weren’t getting your freak on at Studio 54, you were strung out on smack and listening to “Freebird.”

Hell, my Scooby Doo lunch box came with a hidden compartment for cocaine and I wore a silk shirt and brown corduroy pants every day in 3rd grade. What? I was pimp!

Stream Sister Golden Hair on BlipFM
Wikipedia (band)
Wikipedia (song)
Lyrics

Dr. Evil: The key to this project is the giant laser, which was invented by the noted Cambridge physicist, Dr. Parsons. So therefore, it is fitting to call it: “The Alan Parsons Project”.
[Scott snickers]
Dr. Evil: What?
Scott: The Alan Parsons Project was a progressive rock band from 1982. Why don’t you just name it Operation Wang Chung, ass?

Who said light rock had to be limited to the 70′s? In 1984, The Alan Parsons Project, a British songwriting duo and production team, released “Don’t Answer Me,” which reached #15 on the Billboard charts.

Parsons was already a veteran of the music business working as an assistant engineer on The Beatles’ albums Abbey Road and Let It Be. He later worked as an engineer and producer for a number of artists, most notably engineering the prog rock masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon for Pink Floyd.

Almost as important as “Don’t Answer Me” the song was the video (see below) that accompanied it and was played repeatedly on upstart music channel MTV. The comic book themed film noir style video was a nominee for Most Experimental Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The genesis of Alan Parsons Project was a marriage of Parsons’ music and ethereal production and Eric Woolfson’s literary conceptual ideas. This seems to work perfectly in “Don’t Answer Me,” a song about the very personal and painful struggles in an intimate relationship.

I almost can’t hear the song without thinking of the Mickey Spillane-style video. God knows I saw it enough on MTV when I was a kid.

Oh, and did everyone have to have a sax solo on their songs in the early 80′s? Answer: yes. Also, as a friend of mine put it to me recently, this may have been the most important pop song for castanets ever.

Stream “Don’t Answer Me” on BlipFM
“Don’t Answer Me Lyrics
Alan Parsons Project Wikipedia
Ammonia Avenue Album Wikipedia

Today’s Light Rock Monday song is Andrew Gold’s “Lonely Boy,” released in 1976. Gold was the son of a composer and a singer, so it runs in his blood. By the time he was a teenager, he was already a working musician. His music, production and arrangement credits include Art Garfunkel, James Taylor, 10cc and Don Henley. His most recognized performing and arranging credit is with Linda Ronstadt, working on her huge hit album Heart Like a Wheel.

“Lonely Boy” was Gold’s biggest radio hit reaching #7 on the Billboard Pop Chart, but his best-known song is “Thank You For Being a Friend,” which wasn’t popular at the time of its release but found an audience as the theme song for “The Golden Girls.” While Gold didn’t sing the version of that TV theme, he did sing the theme for the Paul Riser, Helen Hunt sitcom “Mad About You.”

It’s clear that Gold had some mad production skills as “Lonely Boy” sounds about 4 or 5 years ahead of its time sonically. The arrangement demonstrated Gold’s skill as a multi-instrumentalist as well.

But, at it’s heart, “Lonely Boy” is an ode to the lost soul of a young boy who feels abandoned by his parents and confused by the changing social norms.

Yes, it’s corny. Yes, it’s marginally sappy. But, it’s sweet in its nostalgic view of a clearly complicated childhood. I was an only child so, in a way, I get the vibe the song is trying to create.

Mainly, I just think it’s a really catching song.

Stream Andrew Gold’s “Lonely Boy” on BlipFM
“Lonely Boy” Lyrics
“Lonely Boy” Wikipedia
Andrew Gold Wikipedia